Abstract
The goal of this article is to present a first list of ethical concerns that may arise from research and personal use of virtual reality (VR) and related technology, and to offer concrete recommendations for minimizing those risks. Many of the recommendations call for focused research initiatives. In the first part of the article, we discuss the relevant evidence from psychology that motivates our concerns. In section 1.1, we cover some of the main results suggesting that one’s environment can influence one’s psychological states, as well as recent work on inducing illusions of embodiment. Then, in section 1.2, we go on to discuss recent evidence indicating that immersion in VR can have psychological effects that last after leaving the virtual environment. In the second part of the article we turn to the risks and recommendations. We begin, in section 2.1, with the research ethics of VR, covering six main topics: the limits of experimental environments, informed consent, clinical risks, dual-use, online research, and a general point about the limitations of a code of conduct for research. Then, in section 2.2, we turn to the risks of VR for the general public, covering four main topics: long-term immersion, neglect of the social and physical environment, risky content, and privacy. We offer concrete recommendations for each of these ten topics, summarized in Table 1.
Highlights
Plasticity in the Human MindOne central result of modern experimental psychology is that human behavior can be strongly influenced by external factors while the agent is totally unaware of this influence
Informed consent for VR experiments ought to include an explicit statement to the effect that immersive VR can have lasting behavioral influences on subjects, and that some of these risks may be presently unknown. b
The scientific community has to take steps to avoid the abuse of informed consent with this technology, especially in the interest of preserving public trust. b
Summary
One central result of modern experimental psychology is that human behavior can be strongly influenced by external factors while the agent is totally unaware of this influence. With the eyes “watching,” coffee drinkers placed three times as much money in the box compared to the control condition with no eyes (Bateson et al, 2006) Effects like this one may be relevant in VR, because the subjective experience of presence and being there is determined by functional factors like the number and fidelity of sensory input and output channels, the ability to modify the virtual environment, and, importantly, the level of social interactivity, for example, in terms of being recognized as an existing person by others in the virtual world (Heeter, 1992; Metzinger, 2003). We review initial evidence that illusions of embodiment can be combined with a change in environment and context in order to bring about lasting psychological effects in subjects
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