The relation between bystanders' behavioral reactivity to distress and later helping behavior during a violent conflict in virtual reality

The occurrence of helping behavior is thought to be automatically triggered by reflexive reactions and promoted by intuitive decisions. Here, we studied whether reflexive reactions to an emergency situation are associated with later helping behavior in a different situation, a violent conflict. First, 29 male supporters of F.C. Barcelona performed a cued-reaction time task with a low and high cognitive load manipulation, to tap into reflexive and reflective processes respectively, during the observation of an emergency. Next, participants entered a bar in Virtual Reality and had a conversation with a virtual fellow supporter. During this conversation, a virtual Real Madrid supporter entered and started an aggressive argument with the fellow supporter that escalated into a physical fight. Verbal and physical interventions of the participant served as measures of helping behavior. Results showed that faster responses to an emergency situation during low, but not during high cognitive load, were associated with more interventions during the violent conflict. However, a tendency to describe the decision to act during the violent conflict as intuitive and reflex-like was related to more interventions. Further analyses revealed that a disposition to experience sympathy, other-oriented feelings during distressful situations, was related to self-reported intuitive decision-making, a reduced distance to the perpetrator, and higher in the intervening participants. Taken together, these results shed new light on helping behavior and are consistent with the notion of a motivational system in which the act of helping is dependent on a complex interplay between intuitive, reflexive and deliberate, reflective processes

An Embodied Perspective as a Victim of Sexual Harassment in Virtual Reality Reduces Action Conformity in a Later Milgram Obedience Scenario

Group pressure can often result in people carrying out harmful actions towards others that they would not normally carry out by themselves. However, few studies have manipulated factors that might overcome this. Here male participants (n = 60) were in a virtual reality (VR) scenario of sexual harassment (SH) of a lone woman by a group of males in a bar. Participants were either only embodied as one of the males (Group, n = 20), or also as the woman (Woman, n = 20). A control group (n = 20) only experienced the empty bar, not the SH. One week later they were the Teacher in a VR version of Milgram's Obedience experiment where they were encouraged to give shocks to a female Learner by a group of 3 virtual males. Those who had been in the Woman condition gave about half the number of shocks of those in the Group condition, with the controls between these two. We explain the results through embodiment promoting identification with the woman or the group, and delegitimization of the group for those in the Woman condition. The experiment raised important ethical issues, showing that a VR study with positive ethical intentions can sometimes produce unexpected and non-beneficent results

An embodied perspective as a victim of sexual harassment in virtual reality reduces action conformity in a later Milgram obedience scenario

Group pressure can often result in people carrying out harmful actions towards others that they would not normally carry out by themselves. However, few studies have manipulated factors that might overcome this. Here male participants (n=60) were in a virtual reality (VR) scenario of sexual harassment (SH) of a lone woman by a group of males in a bar. Participants were either only embodied as one of the males (Group, n=20), or also as the woman (Woman, n=20). A control group (n=20) only experienced the empty bar, not the SH. One week later they were the Teacher in a VR version of Milgram’s Obedience experiment where they were encouraged to give shocks to a female Learner by a group of 3 virtual males. Those who had been in the Woman condition gave about half the number of shocks of those in the Group condition, with the controls between these two. We explain the results through embodiment promoting identification with the woman or the group, and delegitimization of the group for those in the Woman condition. The experiment raised important ethical issues, showing that a VR study with positive ethical intentions can sometimes produce unexpected and non-beneficent results.Tis research was funded by the US Ofce of Naval Research, Award Number N62909-14-1-N119 ‘Exploring Moral Action Using Immersive Virtual Reality’Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A method for generating an illusion of backwards time travel using immersive virtual reality—an exploratory study

We introduce a new method, based on immersive virtual reality (IVR), to give people the illusion of having traveled backwards through time to relive a sequence of events in which they can intervene and change history. The participant had played an important part in events with a tragic outcome—deaths of strangers—by having to choose between saving 5 people or 1. We consider whether the ability to go back through time, and intervene, to possibly avoid all deaths, has an impact on how the participant views such moral dilemmas, and also whether this experience leads to a re-evaluation of past unfortunate events in their own lives. We carried out an exploratory study where in the “Time Travel” condition 16 participants relived these events three times, seeing incarnations of their past selves carrying out the actions that they had previously carried out. In a “Repetition” condition another 16 participants replayed the same situation three times, without any notion of time travel. Our results suggest that those in the Time Travel condition did achieve an illusion of “time travel” provided that they also experienced an illusion of presence in the virtual environment, body ownership, and agency over the virtual body that substituted their own. Time travel produced an increase in guilt feelings about the events that had occurred, and an increase in support of utilitarian behavior as the solution to the moral dilemma. Time travel also produced an increase in implicit morality as judged by an implicit association test. The time travel illusion was associated with a reduction of regret associated with bad decisions in their own lives. The results show that when participants have a third action that they can take to solve the moral dilemma (that does not immediately involve choosing between the 1 and the 5) then they tend to take this option, even though it is useless in solving the dilemma, and actually results in the deaths of a greater number

An experimental study of a virtual reality counselling paradigm using embodied self-dialogue

When faced with a personal problem people typically give better advice to others than to themselves. A previous study showed how it is possible to enact internal dialogue in virtual reality (VR) through participants alternately occupying two different virtual bodies - one representing themselves and the other Sigmund Freud. They could maintain a self-conversation by explaining their problem to the virtual Freud and then from the embodied perspective of Freud see and hear the explanation by their virtual doppelganger, and then give some advice. Alternating between the two bodies they could maintain a self-dialogue, as if between two different people. Here we show that the process of alternating between their own and the Freud body is important for successful psychological outcomes. An experiment was carried out with 58 people, 29 in the body swapping Self-Conversation condition and 29 in a condition where they only spoke to a Scripted Freud character. The results showed that the Self-Conversation method results in a greater perception of change and help compared to the Scripted. We compare this method with the distancing paradigm where participants imagine resolving a problem from a first or third person perspective. We consider the method as a possible strategy for self-counselling

The Social Brain in Virtual Reality. Changing Perspective on Self and Others in Immersive Virtual Environments

[eng] One fundamental aspect of the human brain is that it is highly shaped by experience and interaction with the surrounding environment. Signals coming from different sensory streams are integrated to create a coherent representation of the environment and of the “self”, as a part of this environment. The boundaries of the self are defined through the constant and dynamic exchanges between an individual and their physical and social environment. Self-perception and self-representation are complex processes that seem to be linked to perception and representation of others. We know that humans experience a sense of self-awareness, but the neural bases of this phenomenon are not clearly understood yet. In this thesis we focus on three different aspects of the “self” as a dynamic process: body representation, social identity, and conceptual representation of a personal problem. We report on three behavioural studies using immersive virtual reality that demonstrate how self-representation is highly influenced by social feedback. In the first experiment, we re-created a virtual representation of the internal image participants had of their own body shape. We also re-created a virtual body corresponding to their ideal body shape, and another virtual body representing their real body shape. Participants saw the three different virtual bodies from a first-person perspective and from a third-person perspective and they had to evaluate the appearance of those virtual bodies. We observed that female participants evaluated their real body as more attractive when they saw it from a third-person perspective, and that their level of body dissatisfaction was lower after the experimental procedure. We believe that third-person perspective allowed female participants to perceive their real body shape without applying the negative prior beliefs usually associated to the “self”, and that this resulted in a more positive evaluation of their body shape. In the second experiment, we showed how the influence of a group can determine behaviour of an individual. We created a social situation of verbal harassment in virtual reality, and embodied participants in different agents of that scene. In one condition, participants experienced the scene from the perspective of the victim (female avatar). In the other condition, participants saw the situation from the perspective of a member of the group of males performing the harassment (in-group condition). One week later, participants went through a virtual reproduction of the Milgram experiment, and we measured their behaviour in terms of the number of shocks they would give to the victim (again a female avatar). All participants were sitting with a group of three virtual experimenters (male avatars), who were instructing them to give shocks to the victim until the end of the procedure. Our results show that participants of the in-group condition, behaved according to the instructions received from the virtual experimenters, and were more likely to finish the procedure. We argue that social feedback and group influence is critical in determining individual behaviour. In the third experiment, we show how subjective evaluation of a personal problem, can be modified by getting a third-person perspective of oneself. Participants were asked to describe a personal problem causing mid-level distress in their daily life and had the opportunity to discuss it, in virtual reality, with an avatar of Dr Sigmund Freud. In the experimental condition, participants were embodied alternatively in their own virtual avatar and in the virtual body of Freud, allowing them to enter in a “self-conversation”. In the control condition, participants were embodied in their own virtual body, and received general counselling from the avatar of Freud. Our results show that the self- conversation condition helped participants to get a new perspective on their problem, leading them to get a better understanding of it and new ideas on how to solve it. Participants in the self-conversation condition also reported less negative automatic thoughts after their experience in virtual reality. We believe that the psychological distance given by the third-person perspective, allowed participants to get a more rational understanding of their situation. Overall, we demonstrate in this thesis, that self-perception, self-representation, self- evaluation and behavioral responses are highly influenced by social feedback. We show that third-person perspective enables to decrease negative bias in self-evaluation. We hope to be able to develop those findings in future clinical applications of immersive virtual reality.[spa] Uno de los aspectos fundamentales del cerebro humano es que está formado, en gran parte, por la experiencia de uno y su interacción con el entorno que le rodea. Señales provenientes de varios canales sensoriales están integradas para crear una representación coherente del entorno y de uno mismo, como parte de este entorno. Los límites de un individuo se definen a través de los intercambios constantes y dinámicos entre éste y su entorno físico y social. La percepción y la representación de uno mismo son procesos complejos que parecen estar vinculados a la percepción y representación de los demás. Sabemos que los humanos sienten una conciencia de sí mismos pero las bases neuronales de este fenómeno no están claramente definidas aún. En esta tesis nos focalizamos en tres aspectos diferentes del sentido de uno mismo como proceso dinámico: la representación corporal, la identidad social, y la representación conceptual de un problema personal. Relatamos tres experimentos comportamentales utilizando realidad virtual inmersiva, teniendo como objetivo demostrar el impacto del “feedback” social en la representación de uno mismo. En el primer experimento, recreamos una representación virtual de la imagen corporal interna de los participantes. También recreamos un cuerpo virtual representando su figura ideal y otro cuerpo virtual representando su figura real. Los participantes vieron los tres cuerpos virtuales desde una perspectiva en “primera persona” y desde una perspectiva en “tercera persona” y tuvieron que evaluar la apariencia de los cuerpos virtuales. Observamos que las mujeres evaluaron su figura real como más atractiva cuando la vieron desde una perspectiva externa (en tercera persona), también su nivel de insatisfacción corporal era menor después del procedimiento experimental. Pensamos que el hecho de percibir su cuerpo real desde una perspectiva externa permitió a las participantes femeninas no aplicar las creencias negativas usualmente asociadas a su percepción de ellas misma, y pensamos que esto resultó en una evaluación más positiva de su forma corporal. En el segundo experimento, mostramos cómo la influencia de un grupo puede determinar el comportamiento de un individuo. Creamos, en realidad virtual, una situación social de acoso verbal en la que el participante fue personificado (“embodied”) en varios agentes de la escena. En una condición, los participantes experimentaron la escena desde el punto de vista de la víctima (avatar femenino). En la otra condición, los participantes vieron la situación desde la perspectiva de un miembro del grupo de hombres acosando a la mujer (condición “in-group”). Una semana después, los participantes experimentaron una reproducción virtual del experimento de Milgram y medimos su comportamiento en términos del número de choques eléctricos que dieron a la víctima (otra vez un avatar femenino). Todos los participantes estaban sentados con un grupo de tres experimentadores virtuales (avatares masculinos) que les daban la instrucción de enviar choques a la víctima hasta el final del procedimiento. Nuestros resultados enseñan que los participantes de la condición “in-group” se comportaron siguiendo las instrucciones de los experimentadores virtuales, y fueron más propensos a terminar el procedimiento. Argumentamos que el “feedback” social y la influencia de un grupo son definitivos a la hora de determinar el comportamiento de un individuo. En el tercer experimento, mostramos cómo la evaluación subjetiva de un problema personal puede ser cambiada al tener una perspectiva externa de uno mismo. Pedimos a los participantes que describiesen un problema personal que les causara un nivel medio de angustia en su vida diaria para que tuvieran la oportunidad de hablarlo, en realidad virtual, con un avatar del Dr. Sigmund Freud. En la condición experimental, los participantes fueron personificados (“embodied”) en su propio avatar virtual y en el cuerpo virtual de Freud, permitiéndoles entrar en una conversación con ellos mismo (“self-conversation”). En la condición control, los participantes fueron “embodied” en su propio cuerpo virtual y el avatar de Freud les daba consejos generales sobre su problema. Nuestros resultados muestran que la condición de “self-conversation” ayudó a los participantes a tener una nueva perspectiva sobre su problema, y que los llevó a entenderlo mejor y a tener nuevas ideas sobre cómo solucionarlo. Los participantes en la condición de “self-conversation” también reportaron menos pensamientos negativos automáticos después de su experiencia en la realidad virtual. Pensamos que la perspectiva externa les dio una distancia psicológica hacia su problema y les permitió entenderlo de manera más racional. En esta tesis demostramos que la percepción, la representación y la evaluación de uno mismo están altamente influenciadas por los intercambios sociales (“social feedback”). Mostramos que la perspectiva externa de un individuo sobre sí mismo (en tercera persona) permite disminuir el sesgo negativo en su autoevaluación. Esperamos poder desarrollar estos resultados en futuras aplicaciones clínicas de la realidad virtual

The relation between bystanders’ behavioral reactivity to distress and later helping behavior during a violent conflict in virtual reality

<div><p>The occurrence of helping behavior is thought to be automatically triggered by reflexive reactions and promoted by intuitive decisions. Here, we studied whether reflexive reactions to an emergency situation are associated with later helping behavior in a different situation, a violent conflict. First, 29 male supporters of F.C. Barcelona performed a cued-reaction time task with a low and high cognitive load manipulation, to tap into reflexive and reflective processes respectively, during the observation of an emergency. Next, participants entered a bar in Virtual Reality and had a conversation with a virtual fellow supporter. During this conversation, a virtual Real Madrid supporter entered and started an aggressive argument with the fellow supporter that escalated into a physical fight. Verbal and physical interventions of the participant served as measures of helping behavior. Results showed that faster responses to an emergency situation during low, but not during high cognitive load, were associated with more interventions during the violent conflict. However, a tendency to describe the decision to act during the violent conflict as intuitive and reflex-like was related to more interventions. Further analyses revealed that a disposition to experience sympathy, other-oriented feelings during distressful situations, was related to self-reported intuitive decision-making, a reduced distance to the perpetrator, and higher in the intervening participants. Taken together, these results shed new light on helping behavior and are consistent with the notion of a motivational system in which the act of helping is dependent on a complex interplay between intuitive, reflexive and deliberate, reflective processes.</p></div

Virtual body ownership and its consequences for implicit racial bias are dependent on social context

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

Movement of participants 1–14 and V and P during the violent conflict.

<p><i>n</i> indicates number of interventions, cyan dots indicate the position of the participant during the conversation.</p

Sympathy and interventions.

<p>A disposition to experience sympathy, an other-oriented feelings during situations of distress, was higher in the intervening compared to the non-intervening participants (A), and related to a decreased distance to P during the violent conflict (B). Individual data, median and mean (circles) and the first (lower hinges) and third quartiles (upper hinges) are plotted in A.</p