Rethinking Immersive Virtual Reality and Empathy
This addresses a conceptual problem for researchers and designers in virtual reality, but it is incremental as it builds on existing critiques without new empirical results.
The paper critiques the use of empathy as an outcome in immersive virtual reality studies, arguing it has flaws that can lead to negative societal impacts, and proposes designing for rational compassion instead.
In this position paper, we aim to spark more discussions surrounding the use of empathy as the intended outcome of many studies on immersive virtual reality experiences. As a construct, empathy has many significant flaws that may lead to unintended and negative outcomes, going against our original goal of employing these technologies for the betterment of society. We highlight the possible advantages of designing for rational compassion instead, and propose alternative research directions and outcome measurements for immersive virtual reality that urgently warrant our attention.