Digital village construction and the mental health of rural older adults: Evidence from China.

Virtual influencers have evolved from digital curiosities into strategically managed communicators who shape engagement and persuasion in both commercial and cause oriented campaigns (; ; ). Recent studies show that content produced by computer generated imagery influencers can elicit meaningful user engagement, particularly when emotional displays are salient and humanlike cues are present, suggesting that designed social signals can substitute for human presence in driving responses online (). Comparative evidence further indicates that virtual and human influencers can generate similar downstream effects on perceived credibility, competence, and brand attitudes (; ). These developments sharpen an important question for prosocial communication: when activist messages are delivered by artificial agents, which psychological mechanisms translate engineered human likeness into intentions to act for social and environmental good. Foundational work on anthropomorphism explains why individuals respond socially to non-human agents. ) propose that people attribute humanlike minds based on accessible agent knowledge, effectance motivation, and sociality motivation, while subsequent research shows that even minimal cues in digital interfaces can trigger social responses that mirror interpersonal treatment (; ). In parallel, parasocial interaction research conceptualizes the one-sided sense of intimacy and reciprocity that arises through repeated exposure to media figures, a mechanism now central to understanding how influencers mobilize audiences on social platforms (; ). Emerging evidence suggests that users also form parasocial bonds with virtual influencers and that perceived human likeness strengthens these bonds and shapes source evaluations (; ). At the same time, research on environmental self-identity demonstrates that seeing oneself as a pro environmental person is a proximal predictor of preferences, intentions, and behaviors (; ; ). Identity therefore offers a theoretically distinct pathway through which mediated encounters with activist figures may translate into prosocial action.