@PHDTHESIS{ 2024:514210743,
 	title = {Diversity in virtual humans : unveiling biases in human characteristics representation},
 	year = {2024},
 	url = "https://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/11627",
 	abstract = "In recent years, Computer Graphics (CG) has undergone notable advancements, particularly evident in the enhanced realism of animations and characters featured in movies, games, and various media. However, the Uncanny Valley (UV) theory suggests that as Virtual Humans (VHs) approach heightened realism, there is an increased likelihood of evoking discomfort in those who engage with them. This phenomenon poses a significant challenge in the realms of movies and games, prompting industry professionals and academic researchers to broaden their focus to study human perception. Recognizing that human beings are the users of virtual entities, considerations extend beyond mere visual and behavioral aspects to encompass a diverse array of characteristics, including gender, skin color, facial features, etc. This inclusive perspective raises concerns about the potential replication of realworld biases within the virtual realm. Therefore, this work carries out studies on human perception in relation to VHs, and what sensations are caused by their different characteristics in an approach involving gender and skin color biases. For example, studying the relationship between the character?s gender and the research participant?s gender. Furthermore, based on the results of the studies, this work attempts to find solutions to reduce such biases through the design of VHs. The studies in this work present strong indications of ingroup advantage of participants in relation to VHs with binary genders, both for gender attribution and for emotion recognition. Furthermore, this work provides possible solutions for deconstructingthe gender binary in the use of gerderless Virtual Baby (VB) and a genderless Adult VH. Regarding skin color, this work presents discussions involving UV and VHs with different skin colors, which point out that VHs with dark colored skin are perhaps considered less realistic than white colored skin VHs due to the fact that skin color creation algorithms skin color may be biased.",
 	publisher = {Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica do Rio Grande do Sul},
 	scholl = {Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Ci?ncia da Computa??o},
 	note = {Escola Polit?cnica}
}