Using virtual reality to increase empathy and combat bias in the classroom: A pilot study

This article looks at how empathy and experience, existing within the virtual reality (VR) performance medium, facilitate learning. The article focuses on the importance of soft skills in education and highlights empathy and experience as important contributors to developing skills in understanding and communicating with others. It acknowledges that the development of skills and attributes that benefit education and employment also benefit life satisfaction and well-being. The article contemplates VR as an ‘empathy machine’ and explores how VR performances offer immersive and interactive storytelling experiences. It argues that VR could promote empathy by broadening perspectives through exposure to immersive storytelling, in addition to real-world interactions, helping to advance beneficial soft skills development. If VR could be an effective ‘empathy machine’, then VR performances could offer an even more powerful medium to develop soft skills and empathy. The article draws on three different examples of VR performances to illustrate their education potency and concludes that, with further research, VR performances could be influential tools in education for soft skill development.

This article rethinks the notion of virtual reality (VR) as an ‘empathy machine’ by examining how VR directs emotional identification not toward the subjects of particular VR titles, but toward VR developers themselves. Tracing how both positive and negative empathy circulates around characters in one of the most influential VR fictions of the 2010s, the light novel series-turned-anime series Sword Art Online (2009–), as well as the real-life figure of Palmer Luckey, creator of the Oculus Rift headset that launched the most recent VR revival, the author shows how empathetic identification ultimately tends to target the VR game master, the head architect of the VR world. These figures often already inhabit a socially privileged position. A better understanding of how VR channels empathy towards VR creators points to the need to ensure a broader range of people have opportunities to take up the role of VR game master for themselves.

Virtual Reality (VR) has been proposed as a potentially revolutionary medium for pornography. The notion of VR as a an ‘empathy machine’ has led to predictions that VR will facilitate more empathetic relationships between pornography and the viewer, and pornographic actors and viewers. This affective turn in VR pornography is contingent upon the use of teledildonic technology and VR to facilitate new embodied relations for the viewer. However, the current state of VR pornography is very far from this vision. Currently, VR pornography is dominated by a variation on the point-of-view genre of pornography where the viewer is embodied in a stationary, subject position - often that of a straight, white male while a female actor submits to the desire of the actor. The promise of VR pornography is currently some way from being realised, and the material currently available recycles debates on heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity in eroticism.

Recent studies utilized virtual reality (VR) as an "empathy machine" to mitigate bias towards various social groups. However, studies addressing bias against physical disabilities remain scarce, with inconsistent results based on VR experience design. Moreover, most studies assumed the universal effects of VR simulation on bias reduction, ignoring the potential moderating effects of individual characteristics. This study investigated how experience design components and individual characteristics moderate VR simulation's effect on changes in bias towards physical disabilities. We designed a VR wheelchair experience, manipulating the situational context (negative, neutral) and whole-body avatar visualization (visible, invisible). Participants' implicit and explicit bias levels were assessed to examine the changes according to VR design components and individual characteristics (gender, preexisting bias level). Results indicated that following the VR intervention, implicit bias was reduced in the group with higher preexisting bias but rather increased in the group with lower preexisting bias. In addition, gender interacted with avatar visualization such that male participants' implicit bias was reduced with invisible avatars but increased with visible avatars. Explicit bias, in contrast, was reduced regardless of conditions, suggesting the potential response bias in self-report measures. These findings underscore the importance of considering the complex interplay between experience design and individual characteristics in understanding VR's efficacy as an empathy-inducing tool. This study provides insights and guidelines for developing more effective VR interventions to alleviate implicit bias towards physical disabilities.

This study explored the interactive effect between virtual reality-based learning media and student learning styles on student learning outcomes. Although the use of virtual reality (VR) in education is increasingly widespread, research has yet to thoroughly examine how VR-based learning media interact with students’ individual learning styles to influence learning outcomes. VR has demonstrated potential in boosting student engagement and comprehension, especially in subjects rich in content such as learning for type of field of Fact. However, there remains limited understanding of how learners with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic preferences respond uniquely to immersive learning experiences. A quasi-experimental factorial design (2×2) was employed in the study. Participants were divided into two groups that carried out the learning process using VR and video. The results of the study showed that the group learned using VR significantly improved their learning outcomes compared to video. Mixed learning styles students in experiment groups achieved higher average learning outcomes than students with visual or auditory learning styles. Meanwhile, a group of students with auditory learning styles performed better than both visual and mixed learning styles in control group. Furthermore, this research found an interactive effect that significantly affected the connection between instructional media and learning styles in relation to student learning outcomes. As the main purpose of holding why this research was conduct, it is recommended for teachers not to use VR just like that, but must first ensure that students' learning styles are indeed suitable for learning using this media.

Virtual Reality (VR) has often been referred to as an “empathy machine.” This is mostly because it can induce empathy through embodiment experiences in outgroup membership. However, the potential of intergroup contact with an outgroup avatar in VR to increase empathy is less studied. Even though intergroup contact literature suggests that less threatening and more prosocial emotions are the key to understanding why intergroup contact is a powerful mean to decrease prejudice, few studies have investigated the effect of intergroup contact on empathy in VR. In this study, we developed a between-participants design to investigate how VR can be used to create a positive intergroup contact with a member of a stigmatized outgroup (ethnic minority) and present the results of the effect of intergroup contact in VR on empathy. Sixty four participants experienced either positive contact (i.e., equal intergroup status, collaborative) with a black (experimenter-controlled) avatar (experimental condition) or no intergroup contact (i.e., ingroup contact with a white avatar; control condition), with situational empathy (personal distress and empathic interest) being measured through a self-report questionnaire up to a week before and right after the VR contact experience. The experiment showed that satisfying degrees of body ownership of participants’ own avatar and co-presence with the contacted avatar can be achieved in simple and universally accessible virtual environments such as AltspaceVR. The results indicated that while VR intergroup contact had no significant direct effect on empathy, exploratory analyses indicated that post-intervention empathic interest increased with stronger feelings of co-presence in the intergroup contact condition.

The man who works recognizes his own product in the World that has actually been transformed by his work: He recognizes himself in it, he sees in it his own human reality, in it he discovers and reveals to others the objective reality of his humanity, of the originally abstract and purely subjective idea he has of himself. Alexandre Kojève (1980, 27) The essay critiques an aspect of the so-called post-mobile wave of technological change that claims, through the vector of virtual reality (VR), to have created an ‘empathy machine’ that will form the basis of a new journalism. Through VR devices deployed by news organisations such as the New York Times, and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, users will be so powerfully immersed in, for example, a street demonstration, or a refugee camp, that the empathy they feel may constitute a new strengthening of the fourth estate’s civic role in informing and enlightening the public, to the extent that it can go beyond subjective empathy to develop a shared basis for political participation in civil society. The essay considers these claims from the overarching context of what is called digitality. It argues that human agents are analogue agents from an analogue world. Digitality, by contrast, is an essentially alienating sphere wherein digital media cannot replicate analogue communication processes without generating gaps, voids, and ‘missing information’. It further argues, extending insights from Guy Debord, that what VR does produce is a powerful ‘integrated spectacle’ that is a pale substitute for the form of interactive experience needed for the generation of empathy. Taken together, the essay concludes that empathy, a contestable term in its common understanding to begin with, cannot be generated from a digital source. Moreover, should VR become the next dominant post-mobile technological wave as the tech giants predict, then people, users and consumers of VR products in the fourth estate news context, will be further distanced from the analogue reality of the actual world.

This article looks through a critical media lens at mediated effects and ethical concerns of virtual reality (VR) applications that explore personal and social issues through embodiment and storytelling. In recent years, the press, immersive media practitioners and researchers have promoted the potential of virtual reality storytelling to foster empathy. This research offers an interdisciplinary narrative review, with an evidence-based approach to challenge the assumptions that VR films elicit empathy in the participant—what I refer to as the VR-empathy model. A review of literature from the fields of psychology, computer science, embodiment, medicine, and virtual reality was carried out to question and counter these claims through case studies of both fiction and non-fiction VR experiences. The results reveal that there is little empirical evidence of a correlation between VR exposure and an increase in empathy that motivates pro-social behavior, and a lack of research covering VR films exposure eliciting empathy. Furthermore, the results show an alarming lack of research into the long-term effects of VR films and other VR immersive experiences. This contribution aims to understand and demystify the current “empathy machine” rhetoric and calls for more rigorous, scientific research that can authenticate future claims and systemize ethical best practices.

This article seeks to redeem the idea that virtual reality (VR) might serve to foster empathy by rethinking both the notion of empathy and the ways contemporary VR films have attempted to generate it. Specifically, this paper considers two forms of embodiment—being and being with—in order to highlight some of the shortcomings of the ‘empathy machine’ discourse. In doing so, I also offer an alternative analogy: a tool for empathy, rather than a machine. Finally, an analysis of two key VR productions that invite users to be with characters—rather than putting users ‘in the shoes’ of a character—allows me to demonstrate how a more productive path towards empathy in VR might instead lay in experiences that create space—or ‘make room’—for the work of empathy to be undertaken by individuals who know and want to use VR as a tool, rather than as an end in itself.

ABSTRACT:Virtual Reality (VR) has garnered significant attention as a potential ‘empathy machine’ for its ability to simulate firsthand experiences of others’ perspectives. However, recent research reveals conflicting evidence regarding VR’s effectiveness in fostering empathy, with outcomes ranging from strong positive effects to complete ineffectiveness. By analyzing both subjective experiences and objective measures, this study aims to elucidate the relationship between VR design and human empathy, addressing three prevalent perspectives on the field’s inconsistencies: flawed mechanisms, ineffective design, and mismatched methodology. The findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of empathic VR and provide practical implications for designing effective VR-based empathy interventions in engineering contexts.

This chapter explores what the new digital visuality means in terms of screen ethics. . By contrast to claims that virtual reality (VR) offers an immersive “empathy machine” for its users, this chapter analyses VR projects like Carne y arena (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2017), alongside their promotion and reception, to illustrate how VR’s ethical potential is being overstated. VR may in fact only offer the illusion of such intimacy. Considering Google Earth and Google Street View, as well as drones used in warfare, this chapter illuminates the power asymmetries – reminiscent of colonial hierarchies and resulting lack of empathy which may in fact surround the new digital visuality.

Virtual reality (VR) has been described as the ultimate empathy machine; but does it deserve this reputation? Thanks to its features of embodied technology, VR can let users virtually walk in someone else’s shoes. In addition, multi-sensory VR experiences can present evocative and heart-wrenching stimuli. For these reasons, VR seems to be a likely candidate to foster empathy. However, the published literature indicates that the impact of VR on empathy is complex and depends both on the type of VR and also the type of empathy being evaluated. The present chapter compares two meta-analyses which suggest that VR can elicit empathy, but the theoretical factors on which the technology has more efficacies are in contrast. In this chapter, these discordant meta-analyses are discussed, and the reasons why they find different results are theorized. We attempt to answer when and how VR could be an empathy machine. We conclude that low-tech but evocative storytelling is most likely to yield emotional empathy, and embodied experiences that encourage perspective-taking will improve cognitive empathy. Although we attempt to present the latest empirical evidence about empathy and VR, we are aware that the scientific consensus around this topic is likely to evolve in the future.

When people hold implicit biases against a group they typically engage in discriminatory behaviour against group members. In the context of the implicit racial bias of ‘White' against ‘Black' people, it has been shown several times that implicit bias is reduced after a short exposure of embodiment in a dark-skinned body in virtual reality. Embodiment usually leads to the illusion of ownership over the virtual body, irrespective of its skin colour. Previous studies have been carried out in virtual scenarios that are affectively neutral or positive. Here, we show that when the scenario is affectively negative the illusion of body ownership of White participants over a White body is lessened, and implicit bias is higher for White participants in a Black virtual body. The study was carried out with 92 White female participants, in a between-groups design with two factors: BodyType (their virtual body was White or Black) and a surrounding Crowd was Negative, Neutral or Positive towards the participant. We argue that negative affect prevents the formation of new positive associations with Black and distress leads to disownership of the virtual body. Although virtual reality is often thought of as an ‘empathy machine' our results suggest caution, that this may not be universally the case.

When people hold implicit biases against a group they typically engage in discriminatory behaviour against group members. In the context of the implicit racial bias of ‘white’ against ‘black’ people, it has been shown several times that implicit bias is reduced after a short exposure of embodiment in a dark-skinned body in virtual reality. Embodiment usually leads to the illusion of ownership over the virtual body, irrespective of its skin colour. Previous studies have been carried out in virtual scenarios that are affectively neutral or positive. Here, we show that when the scenario is affectively negative the illusion of body ownership of white participants over a white body is lessened, and implicit bias is higher for white participants in a black virtual body. The study was carried out with 92 white female participants, in a between-groups design with two factors: BodyType (their virtual body was White or Black) and a surrounding Crowd was Negative, Neutral or Positive towards the participant. We argue that negative effect prevents the formation of new positive associations with black and distress leads to disownership of the virtual body. Although virtual reality is often thought of as an ‘empathy machine’ our results suggest caution, that this may not be universally the case.

Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to be used as a transformative tool in medical education - offering both interactive models and clinical simulations to enhance training. VR presents a space and cost-effective solution for remote education, combined with prospects of higher efficiency and interactivity than traditional training. This study aimed to explore the potential application and perception of VR in a focus group of medical students as an innovative tool for learning anatomy. Sixteen students underwent a structured VR lesson plan exploring concepts in anatomy. Pre- and post-surveys assessed participants’ exposure to VR, previous exposure to and preparedness in anatomy training, and attitudes toward VR. Results revealed that despite limited prior exposure to VR, participants found the technology both easy to navigate and comfortable to use. Notably, over 90% of students indicated that VR would enhance their anatomy learning experience and help them learn a topic better than traditional models. Furthermore, 94% of participants agreed that this learning modality should be offered to medical students, and if given access to this technology, most would utilize it for learning anatomy and potentially for other subjects as well. This study emphasizes VR’s potential to enhance medical education, particularly in anatomy instruction. VR’s adaptability, user-friendly interface, and positive student perceptions highlight its viability as a supplemental tool. Future research should explore specific anatomy applications, long-term impacts on knowledge retention, and the evolving role of VR in medical education.