Virtual Reality and Empathy

Virtual reality (VR) offers the unique possibility to create immersive experiences of another person’s or group’s reality and even to ‘become’ that person using virtual embodiment techniques. These qualities of VR to extend our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes hold the promise of making us more empathetic. The idea of VR as an “empathy machine” has attracted the attention of the media in recent years, with an exploding number of initiatives that are built on this narrative. Nonetheless, empirical evidence for the empathy-enhancing potential of VR is still sparse, and the "empathy machine" has come under scrutiny due to inconsistent findings. Moving beyond the question of whether or not VR can be a potential "empathy machine", this Research Topic focuses on questions, such as:

• How do VR experiences need to be designed in order to enhance empathy?
• What are the consequences that emerge from it?
• Can it backfire, and under what conditions does it lead to negative effects?
• How do we define and measure empathy in such studies?
• What is the applied potential of such VR-based interventions?

Understanding the potential and limitations of VR to create empathy and foster positive attitude and behavior change requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates psychological and neuroscientific evidence as well as technical, methodical and media-related aspects. This Research Topic aims to create a critical discourse on the power of VR to create empathy and to challenge common assumptions in order to refine and advance the research agenda in this field.

We invite empirical, conceptual, or methodological contributions on the empathy-enhancing potential of VR and other immersive technologies in interpersonal and intergroup contexts. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Psychological models of how and when VR leads to empathy and positive change;
• Design factors of VR experiences that can enhance or decrease empathy;
• Methodical innovations in measuring empathy and related concepts in VR experiences and interventions;
• Neuroscientific data or concepts addressing the potential of VR for these considerations;
• Applied research and practical implications of VR-based interventions;
• Ethical and philosophical questions related to the implications of using immersive technologies as ‘empathy machines.’




Image Credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay

Keywords: virtual reality, 360-degree video, embodiment, empathy, perspective-taking, pro-social attitudes and behaviors

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.