Virtual Reality as an Empathy-Building Tool
By Steve Lemeshko
Virtual reality (VR) technology. Credit: Guido van Nispen, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Storytelling, one of humanity’s oldest forms of communication, has evolved with technology. Digital storytelling—combining traditional text with sound, video, and interactive methods—has opened new ways of engaging with the audience. Among these advancements is Virtual Reality (VR), which can be used as a novel storytelling tool to elicit narrative empathy through processing the emotions of “similar others,” or individuals who share common experiences, backgrounds, or challenges. Even though there is much debate on the effectiveness of such media, VR’s unique qualities have the potential to make it more effective than traditional media.
The three key qualities of VR include:
(1) the interactive nature that engages more actively with the embedded narrative;
(2) immersion that substitutes reality with the VR environment and increases the sense of presence; and
(3) perspective-taking that allows the players to experience what it’s like to be someone else through embodiment techniques, making them feel as if they physically inhabit another's body.
Together, these features can transport people to places and communities they might never visit, allow them to experience multiple perspectives, and, in doing so, elicit powerful emotional responses.
The ability to empathize is an essential aspect of prosocial behavior, and VR offers a novel approach to building empathy by allowing individuals to actively role-play and relive the experiences of “similar others.” Some VR projects developed to foster empathy include UN Virtual Reality, Meta’s VR for Good, and HTC’s VR for Impact. Despite these efforts, the efficiency of those projects has not been thoroughly studied. The recent academic publication “Cultivating Empathy through Narratives in Virtual Reality: A Review” by Christos Hadjipanayi et al. (2024) seeks to fill this gap by analyzing 20 relevant studies from 2010 to 2022, categorizing them, identifying patterns, and quantifying VR’s potential for building empathy.
The studies analyzed by Hadjipanayi and his colleagues show the preference for and effectiveness of VR in presenting personal narratives. This trend is supported by research on psychic numbing—the tendency to empathize more with individual stories than large-scale statistics. The authors mention various examples of VR narratives:
Narratives concerning victims of mental and physical abuse involved research on topics such as bullying in school; teacher training about multiculturalism and verbal bullying; domestic violence between intimate partners, with the abuser taking on the victim’s role; and parent-child relationship, with mothers placed in the child’s perspective. Narratives about individuals that belong to stigmatized and discriminated social groups included stories about people of different race, immigrants and minorities, and the experiences of a homeless person and a drug user. Studies about individuals with a special condition involved research about patients with chronic pain and dementia.
Beyond personal narratives, the researchers identified two other categories of digital storytelling in VR: historical (e.g., documenting significant past events such as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster) and educational (e.g., conveying a particular concept such as future scenarios of ocean acidification). These categories are not mutually exclusive, and many VR programs combine elements from multiple categories to improve their impact. Additionally, most studies included elements such as embodiment and perspective-taking, which provide a deeper immersion than traditional media can offer. Such studies preferred “being in the shoes of” a character, as opposed to “being with,” even though the latter mirrors real-world social interactions closer.
Despite the potential to elicit stronger emotional responses, the studies analyzed do not consistently show the clear advantages of VR over traditional storytelling methods. The authors argue for further research, noting the difficulty of defining empathy and the need to supplement unreliable self-reported data. Cultural heritage and personal ideologies may also influence how participants experience and respond to VR. Therefore, although VR may not immediately change empathic behavior, it has the capacity to cultivate empathy over time.
Ultimately, the authors argue that empathy is shaped by the entirety of the VR experience rather than individual components. Advances in AI and computer science promise to further improve the authenticity, accessibility, and affordability of VR technology, making it an even more powerful tool. With its unique ability to immerse users, embody different perspectives, and encourage active role-play, VR holds great potential in building narrative empathy. At the same time, ethical considerations remain crucial—thoughtful and nuanced approaches are necessary to ensure that VR does not reinforce one-sided or reductive portrayals, especially of marginalized groups.
The full citation of the article is:
Hadjipanayi, Christos, et al. “Cultivating Empathy through Narratives in Virtual Reality: A Review.” Pers Ubiquit Comput, vol. 28, 10 May 2024, pp. 507–519, doi:10.1007/s00779-024-01812-w.
For further reading on narrative empathy and psychic numbing, see the following articles:
“Bright words:” finding common ground in environmental negotiations / May 24, 2024
How Art Can Encourage Social Change / May 17, 2024
Using AI to Amplify the Voices of Gun Violence Victims / March 8, 2024