A scientist has discovered that men judge women on the strength of their looks, even in the practical world.

Avatars and robots are increasingly attracting people in recent times, courtesy video games and blockbuster movies.

At present, Karl MacDorman of Indiana University in Indianapolis, Indiana, wanted to discover how people dealt avatars when confronted with an ethical dilemma.

To find the answer, the specialist presented 682 volunteers with a dilemma.

Playing a doctor's character, the volunteers were faced with a female avatar, Kelly Gordon, pleading with them not to tell her hubby at his next health check that she had got herpes genitalis.

The dilemma is proposed to make medical pupils think issues such as doctor-patient privacy, not to make a right or wrong answer, said MacDorman.

Gordon was presented to the volunteers in one of four different styles, either as an artist overlying on a computer generated surroundings or a CG female on the same setting and then either edited to move effortlessly or in a jerky, abnormal way.

Generally, females reacted more sympathetically to Gordon, with 52% assenting to her appeal as against 45% of men.

But whereas women’s attitudes were reliable however Gordon was presented, the male volunteers' mental attitudes dropped aggressively. The two human editions got a far more sympathetic inquiry than their avatar counterparts.

"Clearly, presentational factors influence people''s decisions, including decisions of moral and ethical consequence," said MacDorman.

"The different response from volunteers could suggest men showed more empathy towards characters that they see as a potential mate," he added.

The research will be issued in the upcoming version of the journal Presence. (With Input from Agencies)