Virtual regulation: Can immersive virtual reality be used to assist intergroup interventions? The moderating effect of political ideology
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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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en
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24
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Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, Volume 28, issue 7, pp. 1459-1482
Abstract
While emotions are pivotal in intergroup conflicts, individuals are less motivated to feel peace-promoting emotions in extreme conflicts. In the current research, we investigated whether virtual reality (VR) can be harnessed to overcome this limitation by utilizing two of its features: (a) the ability to simulate reality in an immersive way, and (b) to allow people to experience a situation from different perspectives immersively. Two studies done outside the lab (N = 346) on Jewish-Israelis showed that watching conflict-related scenes using VR increased empathy and other peace-promoting emotions and attitudes. Additionally, the results showed that VR could be used to assist emotion-regulation interventions, namely, cognitive reappraisal (CR) and perspective-taking (PT), by allowing participants to immersively experience a scene from the desired perspective (a “bystander,” detached perspective for CR and an outgroup perspective for PT). Both features were found to have a distinct contribution in affecting participants’ emotions. However, most effects were found only among rightists, suggesting VR is beneficial when motivation to feel peace-promoting emotions is low. Our findings suggest that interventions should be carefully tailored to the audience, the context, and the desired effect.Description
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Adler, E, Hasler, B S, Hasson, Y, Landau, D, Baratz, G, Halperin, E & Levy, J 2025, 'Virtual regulation: Can immersive virtual reality be used to assist intergroup interventions? The moderating effect of political ideology', Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, vol. 28, no. 7, pp. 1459-1482. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302251324892