VR, empathy, perspective taking, attitudes

We investigate the efficacy of a novel manipulation of choice architecture to affect giving-- increasing the number of action options available to donors to increase how much they give. Across six experiments, viewing multiple bids for aid increased both intention to donate and actual donation (controlling for affective states that have been previously associated with costly helping). Finally, we replicate our effect in a natural experiment of charitable donations (N = 10,000). Presenting donors with multiple bids increased the average donation by $8.77 (a 19.7% increase).

We examined whether perspective taking mitigates the negative influence of threat on explicit and implicit intergenerational attitudes after embodying an elderly person in an immersive virtual environment (IVE) or a traditional perspective taking exercise via mental simulation (MS). The negative effect of threat on ageism dissipated when participants engaged in a perspective taking exercise. Differential effects were found depending on the perspective taking medium.