Emotion, Embodiment and the Virtual World: Interactions Within the Virtualization Process of Life

This book seeks to understand emotions in the virtual world. It explores embodiment, hybridization, and emotions within interactions mediated by a virtual avatar.

The work aims to contribute to reflection within the sociology of emotion, creating a line of continuity that starts from the classical concept of empathy, passing through its virtualization and arriving at the transformation of everyday life online. Therefore, this work lends itself as a starting proposition, analysing different themes, from online emotions to sex, from the virtualization of bodies to their veneration, and from the internet of things to the internet of life.

Examining emotions such as empathy, love, anger, and fear in the virtual world, it uses the metaverse as a case study for human cognitive and emotional embodiment mediated by avatars. This book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the sociology of emotion, the sociology of innovation, interaction, science and technology studies, media studies, and game studies.

Vincenzo Auriemma is PhD in Sociology from the University of Salerno, Italy, and his interests are related to empathy and transdisciplinary analysis between sociology and social neuroscience. He is currently working on two researches aimed at analyzing empathy within work groups and emotional embodiment in the metaverse. He collaborates with various structures and institutions to promote neurosociology in Italy. Recently, several of his articles related to the concept of embodiment in the metaverse and a monograph on empathy have been published.