Giving test subjects Superman-like flight in a virtual reality simulator
makes them more likely to exhibit altruistic behavior in real life, Stanford
researchers find.
By Bjorn Carey
The Stanford Report
Originally published January 31, 2013
If you give people superpowers, will they use those abilities for good?
Researchers at Stanford recently investigated the subject by giving people
the ability of Superman-like flight in the university's Virtual Human
Interaction Laboratory (VHIL). While several studies have shown that playing
violent videogames can encourage aggressive behavior, the new research suggests
that games could be designed to train people to be more empathetic in the real
world.
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"It's very clear that if you design games that are violent, peoples' aggressive
behavior increases," Bailenson said. "If we can identify the mechanism that
encourages empathy, then perhaps we can design technology and video games that
people will enjoy and that will successfully promote altruistic behavior in the
real world."
The entire article is here.
Thanks to Ed Zuckerman for a lead on this article.
