Since its inception and popularization in the early 2010’s, virtual reality technology has been used for a vast array of applications from education and art to engineering, entertainment, and beyond. Recently, immersive VR technology is also being used to address the issue of domestic abuse and violence in a series of experimental studies. The goal is to enhance emotional recognition skills and subsequently foster an increased capacity for empathy among domestic violence offenders. While this is clearly a deserving cause and noble goal, the question is does this application truly work or are we overestimating the power of virtual reality?
Domestic Abuse
Domestic abuse, also referred to as domestic violence or intimate partner violence, is characterized as a pattern of behavior in any relationship that is used to gain or maintain power and control over an intimate partner. This includes physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, or economic actions designed to manipulate, coerce, frighten, intimidate, humiliate, injure, or terrorize someone. Domestic abuse can occur in any relationship and affects people of all backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, and education levels.[1]
According to statistics published by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 9 men have been physically, sexually, or emotionally abused by an intimate partner in the United States. Various negative mental, physical, sexual, and reproductive health effects have been linked to domestic violence and studies suggest that there is a direct relationship between domestic abuse, depression, and suicidal behavior.[2] Domestic abuse is a pervasive issue that leads to distressing outcomes and justifiably deserves extensive research into ways to combat and prevent its occurrence. Recently, researchers across the globe have been searching for a possible answer to this dilemma using virtual reality immersion.
Empathy and Emotional Recognition
The role of empathy and perspective-taking abilities in mediating aggressive behaviors has been a well-documented theory behind the occurrence of interpersonal violence. Theories of aggression have suggested that the perpetration of violence against others is linked to a lack of cognitive empathy or the ability of offenders to put themselves in the perspective of their victims and understand their emotions.
The ability to recognize emotions in the facial expressions of others is a key component of effective interpersonal communication.[3] Studies have shown that domestic abuse offenders have a significantly lower capacity for recognizing and understanding the emotions expressed in the faces of others and even tend to misclassify emotional expressions.
The VR Experiments
Researchers have come up with the idea of using immersive VR technology to give male offenders the sensation of experiencing an episode of domestic abuse from the perspective of a female victim. The researchers hypothesized that the virtual reality experience may foster cognitive empathy in violent offenders by having them “physically” embody the victim’s perspective, an ability that they clinically lack. The overall goal is to investigate how the difference in perspective during a violent interaction impacts empathy and an individual’s ability to recognize emotional facial cues in others.[3]
In one experiment, a group of male offenders who had been convicted of domestic violence against women were assessed on measures of their emotional recognition capacity and compared to a control group of men without any histories of violent offenses. The results showed that the men had a significantly lower ability to recognize fear in female faces. Not only did they typically fail to recognize emotions, but they also tended to mistakenly classify fearful expressions as appearing happy.
The men were then exposed to an immersive VR program that was designed to induce the illusion of full-body ownership over their female-bodied avatar thus allowing them to have a first-person experience as a female victim of domestic abuse. The avatars’ movements were perfectly synchronized with the movements of the participants’ bodies. The participants first underwent a process called embodiment designed to strengthen the illusion of being the avatar where they looked at themselves in a mirror and interacted with various objects in the virtual space.
Following this process, a male VR character enters the space and begins verbally abusing the participant. The male character proceeds to invade the participants’ personal space and throw objects such as a telephone onto the floor. If the participant spoke up, the male character commanded them to “shut up.” If they looked away, the male character shouted to them, “look at me!” After completing the virtual encounter, the offenders were again assessed on measures of their emotional recognition capacity. The results indicated that after being embodied in a female victim, the offenders showed an improved ability to recognize fearful female faces and reduced their tendency to misclassify fearful expressions as happy.[3]
Does this truly work?
Research has suggested that virtual reality can elicit strong emotional responses in the user, especially those linked to anxiety, stress, and fear. Other studies have found that some virtual reality programs can promote pro-social behavior among users, but only to a limited extent.[4]
While the results of this study indicated that VR may have promising applications for decreasing re-offenses among perpetrators of domestic abuse, similar studies have reached different conclusions. For example, studies have been published that show that virtual reality is not effective in generating long-term cognitive empathy that allows an individual to identify, understand, and relate to the emotions of others in various contexts. Other studies regarding VR and domestic violence have reported successful results in promoting cognitive empathy.[4] Further extensive, empirical, and peer-reviewed studies must be conducted to fully conclude if VR is a viable tool for addressing violent behaviors among domestic abuse offenders and if so, to what extent it works and how.
GKIS Resources
If you enjoyed reading this article, check out the GKIS Blog for many other articles on a wide array of interesting topics such as gaming, GKIS recommendations, impacts of social media, news-worthy stories, screen safety, popular apps, and so much more. You can also check out Dr. Tracy Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time: A Parenting Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe for family-tested parenting strategies that will help you build the tools you need to help your family navigate today’s technological pitfalls.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Mackenzie Morrow for researching the use of VR for combatting domestic violence and co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe. Onward to More Awesome Parenting,
The Internet can bring out the worst in people. Some say millennials have empathy deficits due to screen communications replacing face-to-face experiences. If that’s the case, what about the younger iGen’s who were born with screens in their hands? Are they doomed? Are we destined to turn into robots with poor empathy skills? Today’s article tells us what empathy is, how it’s learned, and how screen use is impacting its development.
What is empathy?
Empathy is the capacity to understand and share another person’s perspective and emotions. It is the sadness you feel when someone you love is in pain or the joy of watching new parents hold their baby for the first time. Empathy is at the heart of human connection and is key to preventing cruel actions against others.
How do we learn it?
Kids learn empathy by watching their parents. We are prewired to learn it with specialized learning cells in the brain, called mirror neurons. Mirror neuronsare part of a motor neuron that allows us to move facial muscles when expressing emotions. In Dr. Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time: A Parent Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe, she says:
Our biology sets us up for success. In the 1980s, Giacomo Rizzolatti and his team of Italian researchers discovered that when macaque monkeys observed the behavior of other monkeys, the same neurons in their brains fired as if they themselves were performing the behavior (Pellegrino, 1992). In other words, the monkeys had specialized brain cells (called mirror neurons) ready to fire by observational learning. They learn and get practice by watching as well as doing.
Researchers now have evidence of similar mirror neurons in humans younger than twelve months old and hypothesize that mirror neurons are not only key in learning specific chains of motor behaviors but may also be what’s behind complex emotional learning like empathy and attachment (Falck, 2006). This genetic advantage means we are neurologically prewired to understand the intentions of others and unconsciously respond (Rizzolatti, 2006). We not only recognize logically what others are doing and feeling, but we also experience it with them. We are prewired to mimic, learn, and connect with each other.
Other factors necessary for the learning of empathy include:
the brain chemical oxytocin that sets us up to bond,
physical contact and nurture between parent and child,
parent-child fit,
warmth,
consistency, and
gently guiding communication.
Kids learn empathy better when it is modeled rather than when it is taught in the classroom.[2] They learn by interacting and watching how their parents respond to the cashier at a retail store or the server at a restaurant.
Empathy is also learned from how parents treat their children. If a parent is kind to their child, then the child will learn to be kind. Skilled caregivers reinforce empathic behavior when they provide an ongoing narrative about activities, validate emotion (confirm that they see and understand the child’s emotion), and praise children for prosocial behaviors like sharing and helping. The more practice and positive feedback kids get, the stronger their empathy skills. Of course, some kids are born with a natural talent to develop empathy based on genetics and personality. But with practice, all kids become less and less egocentric and more and more people-centered.
The Importance of Empathy
Teaching empathy is important because empathy helps us build relationships and adapt to stressful situations and setbacks. Doing a job well not only requires technical skills, but it requires empathy also.
In the professional sphere, empathy helps with negotiations, teamwork, interviews, and customer service.
On the playground, empathic children are good at making friends, keeping friends, and making others feel welcomed and cared for. They make the playground a safer place.
How Screen Time Interferes with Child Empathy
With all of us distracted by the cheaper version of connection from screen time, we are getting less practice with true empathy. Some experts believe that the rate at which young people and children express empathy has declined by as much as 25% in the past 10 years. [3]
Another way screen use interferes with empathy is by encouraging self-centeredness. Social media is believed to promote the obsession with self by allowing the user to edit and correct their image to the point of false perfection.[3] With the “perfect” virtual self to live up to, our nonvirtual selves often fall short of expectations. This can cause us to avoid real-life interactions and prefer screen interactions. We are more “connected” than ever with more and more people, yet we are getting more lonely, anxious, and depressed.
Ways Parents Can Promote Child Empathy
Narrate everyday activities while your kids watch and participate.
Make sure you include “feeling” words and challenge the child to imagine how other people might be feeling. For example, “Ooh this dinner is going to be good! It makes me happy to imagine the smiles on everybody’s faces when they take their first bite!”
Take the time to truly engage with eye contact, hugs, kisses, and tickles. Quiet snuggles count too.
Be sensitive to your child’s needs and let them know you “see” what they’re feeling. For example, “Oh honey, I can see you are getting tired and need a little break because you are frowning and rubbing your eyes. Let’s relax now and read a story.”
Set your child up for success by setting up a variety of playdates with all different ages of kids and adults.
Kids learn empathy by being nurtured, but also by nurturing themselves. Taking care of younger kids and following the instruction of older mentors offers various nuances for socioemotional skill-building.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Keep in mind that your behavior will be scrutinized and mimicked every second. Stay in the present, and practice a well-balanced online and offline activity diet.
Teach your children to “love and protect.”
Teaching your children to nurture animals and younger children is a great practice of empathy. Community service is also an awesome way to bring the family closer and teach kids philanthropy and gratitude.
Opt for interactive screen activities over passive screen time.
[1] Bennett, T. (2017). Screen Time in the Mean Time: A Parent Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe.
[2] Upright, R. L. (2002). To Tell a Tale: The Use of Moral Dilemmas to Increase Empathy in the Elementary School Child. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(1), 15-20.
[3] Bonnette, R. (2014). Rethinking Technology’s Impact on Empathy. Loyola University Chicago, School of Law.https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/law/centers/childlaw/childed/pdfs/2014studentpapers/Bonnette.pdf.
Falck-Ytter, T., Gredebäck, G. & Von Hofsten, C. (2006). “Infants Predict Other People’s Action Goals.” Nature Neuroscience Nat Neurosci9.7: 878-79. Web.How Parents Can Cultivate Empathy in Children, https://mcc.gse.harvard.edu/files/gse-mcc/files/empathy.pdf
Pellegrino, G., Di, L., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, V., Gallese, & Rizzolatti, G., (1992). “Understanding Motor Events: A Neurophysiological Study.” Exp Brain Res Experimental Brain Research91.1: 176-80. Web.Uhls, Y. T., et al. Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues. Computers in Human Behavior (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.036
Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. “Mirrors in the Mind.” Scientific American295(5) (2006): 54-61 SPECIAL SECTION: NEUROSCIENCE
If your family looks anything like the average American family, you’re probably on your screens too much and can use some help. We all want our families to be as healthy as possible. Overuse of our devices can have a negative effect, not only on our health, but on our family dynamic. Our gadgets are causing us to sit rather than move, and swipe rather than speak. Cutting back isn’t easy but has huge benefits. How much screen time is too much, and what can our families do to reduce time spent on devices?
Screen Time Guidelines
In Dr. Bennett’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time: A Parent’s Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe, she provides recommendations for kids of different ages, toddlers through teens as well as for adults. When asked about time guidelines, she stresses that, although useful as a guide, time limits are less important than the quality and format of viewed content.
Especially for young children, fast-moving, light-flashing content can be overly arousing to the developing nervous system which can lead to stress and effect brain wiring long term. Compulsive and addictive use patterns driven by notifications and rewarding images and sounds can also have detrimental brain and behavior impact. Sexuality and violence are particularly potent to capture our attention, which means lots of exposure to ads and big profit. For children, inappropriate content can lead to stress, anxiety, fear, and depression. She says, for the first time in 23 years of practice, she is seeing young children with panic disorder. She attributes some of these cases to poorly managed screen use.
Dr. Bennett wrote Screen Time in the Mean Time because simple guidelines aren’t enough to protect healthy development and relationships. Each family member has different communication and information access needs. Personalized content and use patterns matter. Rather than set a hard time guideline and leave it at that, she says parents can teach sensible screen programming, choice, and use strategies for smart screen use. Kids need to know why rules exist and be able to negotiate for reasonable access. Just taking screens away overlooks critical learning opportunities. Our screens provide enormous benefits in entertainment, access to information, communication, skill-building, storage, and safety. Knowing how our screen devices affect us and how to manage them are critical first steps to smart screen use.
Risks of Excess Device Use
Recent studies have shown that too much time on your devices can lead to health problems such as:
Obesity
Watching television for more than 1.5 hours per day is a risk factor of obesity for children who are between the ages of 4 and 9. You are more likely to watch more TV when having one in the bedroom. Teens and children are 5 times more likely to be obese if they watch 5 or more hours of TV per day, than those who watch 0-2 hours per day (Why to limit your child’s media use, 2016).
Sleep Problems
A high exposure to screen media and sleeping with a phone in your bedroom puts you at a greater risk for sleep interference. The light that emits from your phone, blue light, is particularly harmful to your child’s sleep quality, because it triggers a dip in your sleep regulating hormone, melatonin. Poor quality of sleep can then lead to memory problems, loss of initiative, an inability to prioritized tasks, mood and anxiety symptoms, and poor academic performance overall (Bennett, 2018; Why to limit your child’s media use, 2016). Without sufficient sleep, the brain is unable to do its housekeeping duties, which includes memory consolidation and removal of toxins, Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to learning deficits, cardiovascular risks, buildup of toxic proteins that can lead to increased risk for Alzheimers, and an impoverished immune system. This is why Dr. Bennett believes that sleep deprivation is the number one risk to mental health today.
Poor Learning and School Performance
Children and teens tend to divide their attention between homework, TV, and smartphones. Dr. Bennett calls this “multitasking.” Multitasking can lead to poor quality work, wasted time, and mental brownout, which is irritability, fatigue, and depression (Bennett, 2018).
Tips on how to reduce screen time:
Be a role model and be consistent.
Achieving lifestyle changes as a family brings comradery, accountability, and a greater chance of success.
Get honest, set a goal, and reach it.
Have a clear vision of what you want your lifestyle to look like and plan the steps to get there. Time management apps are helpful to track and manage. screen use. Bennett’s home staging tips can also be life altering. Starting sooner rather than later will help everyone build positive habit with less resistance. The GKIS Family Living Agreement is a comprehensive and easy0-to-use tool that helps with education, goal setting, and learning family values.
No screens in the bedroom, bathroom, or behind closed doors.
Don’t even use your phone as an alarm clock. If you glance at it during the night, you’ll get distracted by social media and lose critical rejuvenating sleep. This can become a habit and lead to long-term sleep problems. Use a GKIS Family Docking Station to resist temptation.
Build screen-free dinners into the schedule.
Make meal time family time. The dinner table is a great place to bond with your family, catch up on how school or work went, and talk about plans for the week. This is the perfect opportunity to pay compliments and give thanks. Let your family know how grateful you are to have them in your life, it is these precious moments that we let slip by looking at our phones rather than truly engaging in our loved ones.
Modify your phones to be less appealing.
Delete apps. Grayscale. Turn off notifications. Put apps with notifications on a backpage of your smartphone. The world won’t end, you’ll be fine. Making your phone less attractive will cut your screen time and transform your phone from entertainment, to utility; the way it was intended.Cut your social media contacts to Dunbar’s number, 150. Research shows that we have a limited amount of friend slots in our brain, which adds up to about 150. After that, relationship quality deteriorates to acquaintance contact. If you’re hemorrhaging time on relationships that don’t bring something special to your life, trim your friend lists.
Improve the quality of your screen content.
Cut down to one social media app, unfollow fake news sources, and reduce your exposure to ad-rich content like beauty guru videos and celebrity news.
Screen-free times and activities leads to creativity and enriching three-dimensional play.
Bennett practiced #NoTechTuesday and #NoTechThursday with her family. She says these were her favorite days, because her kids played with their pets, built forts, climbed trees, and got creative. Now that her kids are teens, they sometimes elect screen free leisure activities, which she says is a longterm payoff they’ll always value.
Don’t use screens as a punishment or reward.
It’s important that you become your child’s advocate with screen use rather than their punisher. Although it’s easy to use screens as leverage, don’t do it. If they see you as a screen hater, they’ll quit talking to you about their screen activities. Instead, use practical, smaller consequences like 15 minutes earlier bedtime or an extra chore to do. This is especially important with young children.
As with any lifestyle change, time and practice is necessary for success. Trimming screen time may be difficult, especially for teens. They need you to negotiate slow improvements over time rather than demand lots of changes at once. Don’t expect them to agree at first. The benefits will be revealed over time. That is all part of learning healthy habits, which is not an innate skills and is easier with age. Likes and comments are great, but real connections start with true contact and conversation. Thanks to chad Flores for the valuable information in this article. If these tips were helpful, you can find more in Screen Time in the Mean Time: A Parenting Guide to Get Kids and Teens Internet Safe
