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# All it takes is empathy: how virtual reality perspective-taking influences intergroup attitudes and stereotypes

## Details

**Authors** Chen & Ibasco

**Year** 2023

**Publisher** Frontiers in Psychology

**Discipline** Psychology

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1265284) 
10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1265284

## In authors' words

### Abstract

Research in the past decade has demonstrated the potential of virtual reality perspective-taking (VRPT) to reduce bias against salient outgroups. In the perspective-taking literature, both affective and cognitive mechanisms have been theorized and identified as plausible pathways to prejudice reduction. Few studies have systematically compared affective and cognitive mediators, especially in relation to virtual reality, a medium posited to produce visceral, affective experiences. The present study seeks to extend current research on VRPT’s mechanisms by comparing empathy (affective) and situational attributions (cognitive) as dual mediators influencing intergroup attitudes (affective) and stereotypes (cognitive). In a between-subjects experiment, 84 participants were randomly assigned to embody a VR ingroup or outgroup waiting staff at a local food establishment, interacting with an impolite ingroup customer. Results indicated that participants in the outgroup VRPT condition reported significantly more positive attitudes and stereotypes towards outgroup members than those in the ingroup VRPT condition. For both attitudes and stereotypes, empathy significantly mediated the effect of VRPT, but situational attributions did not. Findings from this research provide support for affect as a key component of virtual experiences and how they shape intergroup perceptions. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

### What they set out to do (purpose)

To test whether VR perspective-taking reduces intergroup prejudice and whether empathy is the mechanism.

### What they found (results)

Participants who embodied an outgroup (immigrant) character in VR reported significantly more positive attitudes and stereotypes toward that outgroup, an effect mediated by empathy.

## Commentary

### In short

Taking another's embodied viewpoint changes how one sees a group.

### In more detail

Adopting another group member's embodied viewpoint changes social judgment through empathy — perspective-taking causally alters how one evaluates others. Purpose: To test whether VR perspective-taking reduces intergroup prejudice and whether empathy is the mechanism. Finding: Participants who embodied an outgroup (immigrant) character in VR reported significantly more positive attitudes and stereotypes toward that outgroup, an effect mediated by empathy. [Added 2026-07-30 as new evidence beyond the original 109; DSRP structural basis: P axiom (Structural Impact): changing the point/view (embodying another) reconfigures the observer's distinctions about a group.]

**Patterns it shows** P

**Added** 2026-07-30

**How to cite this** Chen & Ibasco (2023). All it takes is empathy: how virtual reality perspective-taking influences intergroup attitudes and stereotypes. Frontiers in Psychology.