Daniel H. Landau
Becoming Other
Virtual Embodiment – Blurring the Self-Other Binary
100449
The research presented here explores the impact of virtual reality (VR)
and virtual embodiment technologies on the distinction between ‘self and
other’ in interpersonal and intergroup contexts. In a series of five
empirical experiments and three art projects, I investigated this self-
other distinction in the context of the ever-evolving relationship
between technology and the self.
Using
stereoscopic 180º video, I explore the impact of virtual encounters
transitioning from meeting others to becoming ‘the other.’ The first
study shows that meeting in VR a person who shares a painful story
elicits a high degree of empathetic care and facial synchrony. The next
study shows that experiencing ingroup aggression from an outgroup
perspective increases empathy towards the outgroup compared to seeing
the same scenario from the ingroup’s perspective. Next, I present an art
project devising a novel and effective technique to induce virtual
embodiment using 180º stereoscopic video, followed by empirical
evaluation and validation of this technique. Next, I show that meeting
yourself in virtual reality as an experimental paradigm can increase
self-compassion. And finally, in a VR museum installation, I demonstrate
the potential of VR for social impact.
This
manuscript explores various VR methods of placing participants “in
others’ shoes” and provides both new insights and novel methods for
using VR and virtual embodiment for storytelling, art installations, and
social interventions.
Read the book here