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Could Virtual Reality be an antidote for people who find it difficult to feel empathy and compassion?
As we know, emerging technology allows people to put themselves in others' shoes – more immersive than reading a novel or watching a TV show. However, researchers are still exploring how virtual reality could influence people's attitudes.
In a new study, Stanford psychologists have shown how technology can develop more compassionate people in people than other forms of media, such as text. Unlike previous research that only dealt with short-term influence, this study examined the long-term effect on empathy, extending beyond one's life. week.
"We tend to think that empathy is something you have or do not have," said Jamil Zaki, an assistant professor of psychology and co-author of the journal. "But many studies have shown that empathy is not just a trait. It's something you can work on and increase or decrease in different situations. "
The participants were a diverse group of over 560 people aged 15 to 88, including at least eight ethnicities. Some participants were shown "Becoming Homeless," a seven-minute virtual reality experiment developed by Stanford University.
As part of the interactive experience, participants experimented with a number of virtual reality scenarios exploring difficult situations after the loss of a job. In one scene, they had to choose properties for sale in order to pay the rent. In another case, they use a public bus as a shelter, which means that their property should not be stolen by a stranger.
"Taking the perspective of others in virtual reality produces more empathy and prosocial behavior in people immediately after the experience and over time compared to the imagination of what it would be like being in someone else's place, "said Fernanda Herrera, a graduate student Department of Communication and senior author of the paper.
Indeed, participants who experienced the virtual reality experience tended to have a positive attitude towards the homeless and were almost 20% more likely to sign a petition in favor of homelessness. affordable housing.
It was a comparison with participants having experienced the same scenarios via other media, such as reading a story or interacting with a two-dimensional version of the scenes on a computer .
The Stanford team has described this discovery as "exciting" and is collaborating on other studies to better understand the impact of VR on empathy. They were particularly pleased to see that the changes in attitude had continued after a long period of time.
"Well after the end of our studies, some of the research participants sent me an e-mail explaining to them how they started to get more involved in the subject. One of them has a friendship with a homeless person in their community and wrote me again once that person found a house, "he said. said Herrera. "It was really inspiring to see this positive and lasting impact."
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