Offenders become the victim in virtual reality: impact of changing perspective in domestic violence.

ABSTRACT: The role of empathy and perspective-taking in preventing aggressive behaviors has been highlighted in several theoretical models. In this study, we used immersive virtual reality to induce a full body ownership illusion that allows offenders to be in the body of a victim of domestic abuse. A group of male domestic violence offenders and a control group without a history of violence experienced a virtual scene of abuse in first-person perspective. During the virtual encounter, the participants' real bodies were replaced with a life-sized virtual female body that moved synchronously with their own real movements. Participants' emotion recognition skills were assessed before and after the virtual experience. Our results revealed that offenders have a significantly lower ability to recognize f

SUBMITTER: Seinfeld S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5807352 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature