Can avatars change your real world life?

The Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University is carrying out some truly intriguing research into whether the physical appearance of your avatar could actually have a direct impact upon the way you behave in the real world. The researchers ask, for example, if by having an avatar that is thinner and fitter than yourself, and then by watching that avatar perform exercise routines and get thinner before your eyes, this could act as a speeded up cause and effect trigger which makes people so exposed exercise more in the real world.