Why Virtual Empathy Matters

In an age of snowballing digital development and online presence overtaking real-world presence, the concept of empathy matters more than ever for young minds. So is it really possible that the virtual space could, in fact, serve as a tool to enhance and promote cultures of empathy for children and young people? The arguments both for and against the use of virtual spaces and technologies when working and communicating with children are many, so let's take a closer look at the theories behind them in order to better understand the digital future of empathy.

“…the promise and peril of virtual reality as a tool to transport each of us into worlds beyond and lives unknown, conjuring feelings of fear and devastation along with those of excitement and hope…”

The intangible concept of empathy is deeply connected to the ever-expanding virtual world. As cognitive scientist Dr. Lindsay Portnoy expressed in her 2017 article ‘The Neural Technology of Empathy’,  humans are hardwired to replicate empathy when prompted due to our own neural makeup. With this in mind, children around the world should be able to learn, access and reproduce feelings of empathy in virtual spaces without physical borders and while interacting with children with whom they would not usually have access to integrate. The potential benefits of a younger population able to utilise virtual reality (VR) to build bridges between different communities that are unbound by language, location, border or aesthetics are innumerable but they also present new and unexplored barriers and challenges. This article explores the psychological and social benefits of virtual experiences; the possibilities of designing spaces that promote empathy, understanding and cultural awareness; and ethical considerations and challenges concerning children and development.

Virtual reality: friend or foe?

Delving into the world of VR can feel at once alienating and all-consuming, as it’s easy to forget that we possess within our own brains the very same technology that VR utilises. Vilayanur Ramachandran expanded on this concept of ‘neural technology’ in his 2009 talk for TEDIndia, highlighting the importance of these so-called mirror neurons as having “shaped civilization”. Though only discovered relatively recently, mirror neurons are designed to ‘fire’ during an action or during a witnessed action. This explains how we can sometimes ‘feel another’s pain’: essentially the physical manifestation and embodiment of empathy. VR technology plays on this very same connection, assuming the innate human quality of being empathetic and predisposed to react to perceived realities accordingly. As virtual communication and technology expands its reach worldwide, the prominence of utilising this as a tool for enhanced empathy, community-focused consciousness and education is growing. While humans possess an inherent ability to empathise and connect, fast-developing digital technologies are offering us less opportunities for face-to-face connection and, therefore, less time spent reflecting in real-time. If we are able to harness the benefits of existing in the virtual space while retaining that which is inherently human, we may be able to use our developing tools for the better of future generations worldwide. In order to understand this better, we need to examine more closely the psychology of empathy alongside virtual reality.

The three forms of empathy

Daniela Branco is a consultant specialist in the gaming industry who is currently growing her practice as a psychoanalyst. She understands empathy as “the ability to perceive, feel and connect with the other” whether that be human, animal or natural being. This concept of “understanding what the other is feeling” directly relates to that which we can aim to create through VR. In virtual space, we have the opportunity to inhabit the experiences of another, whether this is directly related to a human concept, natural world space or fantasy depiction, this enables us to tap into the feelings of others through perceived lived experience. This differentiation from real-world empathy is expressed in Thomas Fuchs’ 2013 paper, ‘The Virtual Other’, in which he introduces three separate forms of empathy that need to be understood if we are to replicate them in the virtual space. His explanation of ‘primary empathy’ is the real-world, lived experience manifestation; that is to say that which arises from “direct, bodily contact with another person”. This ‘strain’ of empathy is entirely informed by the aforementioned innate human disposition to experience and express empathy: each party involved in these experiences enters into a “circular, bodily-affective” interaction that constantly informs the other on an almost subconscious level. The second form of empathy as explained by Fuchs is “extended empathy”, which differs entirely from the primary form in that it plays on more complex psychological matters such as ‘perspective taking’ and ‘imaginative transposition’. This form of empathy is closely linked to developments in VR, as it informs our ability to relate to one another in real-time, reflect emotionally and interact compassionately with others who are experiencing life in ways entirely different from our own. This form of empathy “already involves a certain degree of virtuality” in that it presents the intangible, and does not depend on physicality or bodily contact to occur. Finally, Fuchs’ introduces “fictional empathy”: this form enables us to connect with inanimate or non-living objects, characters in literature, avatars, photographs and letters from living people. The dispute between whether fictional empathy and primary empathy are different at all can be rested here and serves to explain entirely how we are able to bring important developments in empathy and connection into the virtual space:

“…consider interaction with fictive agents in cyberspace or identification with movie     characters that can achieve similar levels of emotional intensity, or even more intense levels,     when compared with real encounters. As regards secondary empathy or imaginative     transposition, it already entails a component of virtuality or an ‘as-if-consciousness’: when I put myself into the shoes of the other, I do not actually become the other, and I remain aware of this.”

Simulations and positive mental health

Over the past five years, we have seen advancement in research supporting the employment of virtual reality to aid interpersonal connections, mental health and reduce stress. A primary example of this is the introduction of interactive nature simulations, as explored in a 2020 study by the Journal of Environmental Psychology which found “that people who watched interactive computer-generated virtual reality (CG-VR) experienced a significant increase in positive mental health”. While it is both well-documented and understood that proximity to nature (even without physical access or interaction) enhances mood, reduces mental and physical stress levels and physical wellbeing, it is only recently that we are now seeing huge increases in health benefits for those utilising VR programmes focused solely on immersion in nature. There is also evidence to suggest that so-called ‘nature VR’ “can allow individuals to engage in mindfulness and divert from anxiety-inducing thoughts” to the same level as is possible in real-life immersion in nature.

Due to the restrictive lockdowns during the pandemic, many people found themselves entirely unable to access nature, with inner-city inhabitants completely cut off from natural views, access to open spaces and local wildlife. As cities expand and this access to open spaces diminishes due to overpopulated areas and reduction of parks in favour of housing projects, the reality of future generations having little to no access to the natural world is fast approaching. If we are able to offer young people the experience of simulated nature, whether that be to walk in a local forest or explore a coral reef, we can greatly enhance possibilities for better mental health along with increased physical wellbeing and real-life experiences of decreased stress reproduced by these virtual experiences.

Developing global communities in the digital space

The social benefits of VR are rooted in growing numbers of users utilising these digital spaces to connect with others “while experiencing feelings of presence”. VR offers users the ability to meet in social spaces, while simultaneously offering creative activities and games that promote social connection and enjoyment. These virtual spaces essentially offer the simulated feeling of community, a concept which our modern societies are becoming further and further estranged from as we move away from “shared physical space” and connection. The possibility for a development of ‘global communities’ that work to disband cultural boundaries and inequalities rooted in racism, sexism and homophobia is extremely prominent in the world of VR. Multiple applications of this technology enables “geographically remote users to interact with each other in shared virtual environments” thus presenting the possibility for users to learn about new cultures, lived experiences of others regardless of race, religion, locality or prohibitive law. The ‘total immersion’ of VR through the use of a headset is a defining feature that lends itself to the total disconnect from the user’s reality: “this technology blocks the perception of the real environment, and provides an immersive environment instead that responds naturalistically to the users’ actions”. Contrary to possible perception of altering mental and physical capacity for connection, this level of immersion and simulated space has been proven to increase sensations of physical closeness, which in turn offers “increased perceptions of psychological and social closeness” and intimacy.

Marginalised peoples 

“The cultivation of empathy for people from historically disenfranchised ethnic and racial groups has been proposed as an essential strategy for dismantling racism at least since the Civil Rights era” and so the employment of VR as a tool to both teach and explore empathy is being developed as these technologies progress. A 2018 immersive VR module developed by Columbia and Stanford Universities entitled ‘1000 Cut Journey’ utilised a character-focused model to offer participants access to experience racism first hand. Participants utilised VR headsets to “become'' Michael Sterling at three different timepoints in his life: aged 7, aged 15 and aged 30. The creators are continuing to examine the psychosocial effects of experiencing ‘1000 Cut Journey’ as well as exploring “its utility in ameliorating race-based health inequities”.  Users have reported “a greater sense of presence” which, in turn, supports more effective learning and a “greater ability to recall information” that can then be revisited in the real world. The health sector has been working to develop even further resources and programmes utilising VR, particularly concerning racial inequality and stigmatised groups. VR has been “identified as one of the most promising resources for developing empathy towards stigmatised groups as it allows individuals to experience a situation close to reality from another’s perspective”.  A sample study published in 2022 expanded on this by using VR to examine the “impact on empathy, knowledge, and attitudes towards people with schizophrenia”. The sample group consisted of 102 health students, each measured by completing various questionnaires and cognitive tasks combined with 2D video and VR simulation. The study essentially found the method to be effective in improving attitudes towards people with schizophrenia, but also identified the possibility of using 2D video in tandem with VR to support the cultivation of empathy through total immersion.

The risks of further development and exposure

Though there are numerous social and psychological benefits present in the current development of VR models concerning empathy, it is important to highlight the potential risks and concerns of using such programmes, particularly concerning children and young people. “Experiences in virtual worlds have translated into real-world behaviour”, which is both a blessing and a curse when we consider how this impacts the lives of those most susceptible: our younger generations. While VR can be “leveraged as a tool to enhance empathy”, it is also possible that unmoderated and unsafe virtual spaces can offer opportunities for access to dangerous content that is essentially anti-empathy in its depiction of human interaction and emotion. While studies continue to develop to reduce real-world violence through the use of VR (for example in a small study using immersive VR to aid male domestic aggressors to understand better the experience of their victims) we have also seen many examples in over identification with video game scenes and characters in young children over the past twenty years. The evidence is there to support this worsening with VR if the outputs are not controlled safely and moderated, given the intensity of immersion in these virtual spaces that is possible.

Daniela Branco expanded on the dangers of unmoderated access to the virtual world, expressing that “excessive access to virtual games, whether violent or not, can cause sleep disturbances, affect growth hormone, school performance, eating and behavioural problems, can also encourage a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits.” It is also to be noted that, while VR can enhance empathy, grow opportunities for connection and dissolve borders of inequality, there are also instances of individuals experiencing this technology with entirely the opposite effect due to its somewhat dissociative nature and extraction from reality. In younger males, this can be particularly problematic considering feelings of identification, compassion, and solidarity and the overstimulation of a developing mind can lead to desensitisation towards violence, including trivialising aggression towards others. The impact digital technologies have on the brain has long been demonstrated in relation to both food and sleep, as these are two of the main areas affected by both excessive and problematic use (though this is different from addiction or dependence). In terms of more short term health benefits, users have also reported nausea, eye strain and headaches which are largely due to prolonged or incorrect use of the headsets and devices.

Our digital future in web 3.0

As we enter web 3.0, understanding “psychological principles of empathic design and virtual human-mediated communication is more important than ever”. Much remains to be seen and experienced in the virtual space to support this ever-expanding foray into empathy development, but the many studies examining harm reduction and human connection serve to offer hope with integrity.  As young people along with increasing numbers of social groups around the world begin to explore VR due to more accessible pricing of technology and headsets, tools on moderated and safe use will need to develop in order that we protect these online spaces and use them to cultivate positive human interaction and creation. VR could be the next platform for global citizenship to develop, along with increased cultural awareness and de-stigmatised communication, but we must ensure that we create these virtual spaces with moderation in mind as we understand the potential immense change possible for our future generations.