Enhancing Cognitive Empathy

How can the design of an interactive virtual reality experience on a university campus incorporate perspective-taking to help first-year students evoke empathy for diverse experiences?

Cognitive empathy, the recognition of another’s emotions, facilitates altruistic behavior and inter-personal connection. However, few initiatives exist to develop empathy skills for persons beyond early childhood, and existing interventions for the young adult population often rely on self-guided and self-motivated skills practice. Empathic skills interventions neglecting the young adult population become even more pronounced on the college campus, where young adults from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds aggregate to socialize, learn, and co-habitate. A collaborative, immersive experience aimed at enhancing cognitive empathy skills in firstyear college undergraduates may foster altruism and connection in the college campus setting. This study uses a recursive virtual reality experience and perspective-taking exercises to allow for controlled and collaborative empathic skills practice.