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Virtual reality has been hailed as the next major video game platform, a new social networking platform, and even a rival of material reality, but researchers are still exploring its potential impact as a device. empathy. Recently, a team of researchers at Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab discovered that virtual reality could not only provoke a level of empathy greater than that of other media (such as text or representations). 2D), but also create a more lasting empathy.
The research focused on a seven-minute virtual reality experiment titled "Becoming Homeless," which aimed to simulate what it's like to lose one's job, sell one's property to raise money and end up in the street. During the experience, participants face many daily stress related to homelessness, such as attempting to use a public bus as a form of shelter and fend off people trying to steal their goods. The research involved two separate studies, involving more than 560 participants aged 15 to 88 years. Some participants benefited from the full experience of virtual reality, while others were invited to read a story about becoming homeless or playing through a 2D version of the virtual reality. virtual reality experience. .
The results seem fairly clear: at the end of the first study, 82% of participants who experienced VR had voluntarily signed a petition to encourage affordable housing (a major political problem related to homelessness). ), compared with 67% of participants who read the narrative text. In the second study, the figures were 85% and 63% respectively. 66% of those who lived the 2D version of the experiment signed the petition.
According to Fernanda Herrera, the author of the study: "Taking the other person 's point of view into virtual reality produces more empathy and prosocial behaviors in people immediately after the". experience and over time compared to the actual imagination of what would be the life of a person.The shoes of others.It is an exciting discovery. "
The long-term effects of the experiment were clear even after the conclusion of the study. "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," Herrera said. "One of them has become friends with a homeless person in their community and wrote me again once that person found a home. Was really inspiring to see this positive and lasting impact. "
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