Teaching Empathy with Virtual Reality

Empathy revolves around our ability to understand and share the emotions of those around us. It is crucial to healthy social interactions and often motivates prosocial behaviors like cooperating with others, volunteering, and donating to causes. But in today's world, we're often bombarded by negative news and events. When the onslaught is constant, it is easy to become desensitized to the suffering of others. Often media is at the forefront keeping such occurrences fresh in our minds.

However, there is a glimmer of hope for the teaching of empathy coming from a seemingly unlikely industry - virtual reality. Hard as it may be to imagine, virtual reality can help foster empathy for others. How? Let me explain.

Studies of virtual reality (VR) simulations have been shown to develop compassion in participants. One study by Stanford research determined that people who participated in a VR simulation of homeless developed a more profound and enduring empathy towards the homeless population compared to other participants who explored alternative media versions of the same scenario, such as text. According to Fernanda Herrera, the lead author, "Taking the perspective of others in VR produces more empathy and prosocial behaviors in people immediately after going through the experience and over time in comparison to just imagining what it would be like to be in someone else's shoes."
Stanford' University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab has published multiple studies the impact of virtual reality on viewers' empathy for those who are different from themselves.

Embodied Labs have also harnessed VR's ability to affect empathy. They developed a simulation that helps hospice workers and nurses to empathize with their patients in end-of-life care. Viewers embody a fictitious 66-year-old man, Clay Crowder, with incurable lung cancer and experience his diagnosis and end-of-life care as seen through his eyes.

Even the United Nations has utilized the immersive nature of virtual reality to promote empathy and positive social change. Since 2015, the United Nations has coordinated the United Nations Virtual Reality Series. The series consists of approximately 20 virtual reality films designed to "amplify the voices of those who are often unheard, particularly the world's most vulnerable, the project seeks to show the human story behind development challenges, allowing people with the power to make a difference have a deeper understanding of their world, and hopefully to act to make a difference."

Virtual reality can change the way we think and react to the world around us. It can provide us with perspectives we might not consider on our own. Beautiful things can happen when we harness the power of technology for good.

Dr. Nabil Adam is a pioneer in the fields of cybersecurity and healthcare technology and has amassed specializations in machine learning, personalized medicine, and clinical/healthcare informatics. He is a tenured faculty member at Rutgers University, where he teaches Medicine and Computer & Information Systems. For more information, visit: https://nabiladam.com/