Empathy

Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly recognized as a powerful tool to combat prejudice across diverse marginalized groups by allowing users to embody or interact with avatars of others. While VR offers unique opportunities to foster empathy and challenge biases, effectively designed experiences are crucial to avoid unintended negative outcomes and ensure lasting positive change.

Dec 16, 2024

VRtual Societies explores how virtual reality (VR) can be a transformative tool in social psychology, impacting human behavior, perceptions, and social issues. It delves into VR's potential to influence areas like voting behavior, reduce gender and other biases, foster empathy, and promote inclusion by allowing users to experience diverse perspectives.

Nov 28, 2024

Virtual reality (VR) offers a unique immersive experience that can allow users to "step into the shoes" of stigmatized minorities, potentially fostering empathy and reducing prejudice. However, the effectiveness of VR for prejudice reduction varies, with positive emotional experiences and cooperative interactions generally leading to better outcomes, while negative emotions or competitive scenarios can sometimes backfire, highlighting the need for careful design of VR interventions.

Oct 8, 2022