TARGET ARTICLE: Immersive Virtual Environment Technology as a Methodological Tool for Social Psychology
Abstract
Historically, at least 3 methodological problems have dogged experimental social psychology: the experimental control-mundane realism trade-off, lack of replication, and unrepresentative sampling. We argue that immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) can help ameliorate, if not solve, these methodological problems and, thus, holds promise as a new social psychological research tool. In this article, we first present an overview of IVET and review IVET-based research within psychology and other fields. Next, we propose a general model of social influence within immersive virtual environments and present some preliminary findings regarding its utility for social psychology. Finally, we present a new paradigm for experimental social psychology that may enable researchers to unravel the very fabric of social interaction.
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Anthropomorphism is a key determinant of how media agents are evaluated.
“Anthropomorphism is a key determinant of how media agents are evaluated (Blascovich et al., 2002; Gong & Nass, 2007; E. J. Lee, 2010a, 2010b; Rosenthal-Von der Pütten & Krämer, 2014).”
From Building a Stronger CASA: Extending the Computers Are Social Actors Paradigm (2020) · cites this paper as Blascovich et al., 2002
Considerable evidence suggests that humans perceive media agents differently from how they perceive humans.
“Additionally, considerable evidence suggests that humans perceive media agents differently from how they perceive humans (e.g., Blascovich et al., 2002; Fox et al., 2015; Krämer et al., 2012).”
From Building a Stronger CASA: Extending the Computers Are Social Actors Paradigm (2020) · cites this paper as Blascovich et al., 2002
VR allows researchers to maintain a high degree of control on the experiment while immersing participants in highly realistic multisensory environments.
“Indeed, VR allows researchers to maintain a high degree of control on the experiment, while at the same time immersing participants in highly realistic multisensory environments23.”
From The impact of multisensory integration and perceptual load in virtual reality settings on performance, workload and presence (2021) · cites this paper as [23]
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References 97 · Cited by 1,280
- Authors
- Blascovich, J., Loomis, J., Beall, A. C., Swinth, K. R., Hoyt, C. L., & Bailenson, J. N.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Inquiry
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2002-04
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 103-124
- ISSN
- 1047-840X (ISSN-L)
- 1532-7965
- OpenAlex
- W1713757920
- Cited by
- 1,280
- References
- 97
- Citations by year
- 2026: 59 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 104 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 68 · 2021: 91 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 75 · 2018: 89 · 2017: 60 · 2016: 58 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 32
- FWCI
- 15.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Inquiry (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Control and Systems Engineering › Simulation and Modeling Applications
- Keywords
- social influence, experimental control, replication, sample representativeness, virtual reality experiments, social interaction
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