An interesting study has investigated this question and found that yes, AR influences how people behave and act in the physical world. Three experiments were carried out.
One investigated the phenomenon of social inhibition and found that as in the real world, participants perform poorly in a task when an avatar is watching them.
The second experiment investigated if participants would follow social cues even when interacting with an avatar. This was measured by seeing if participants would sit on the chair that the avatar previously sat on. All participants sat on the empty chair next to the avatar. Some of them were even asked to take off the AR headset before choosing their seat and still, many chose to sit in the empty chair.
In the third study, researchers examined how AR affects the social connection between two people with one of them wearing the AR goggles. Those wearing the goggles felt less socially connected to the other person.
Following the three experiments, it can be said that after having an experience with AR, our interaction with and in the physical world changes. AR can change where we go, how we behave, how well we do on various tasks, how we connect with other people and much more.
If one’s experience within the virtual environment can be so impactful in the real world, imagine the opportunities that creating positive and engaging virtual experiences can convey.