Project

TooCloseVR

Using Psychological Ownership to Combat Cyberbullying

As part of a university project, I helped to enhance TooCloseVR, a cyberbullying prevention program, to explore how psychological ownership through personalized characters affects empathy, distress, and connection. A study with 95 students revealed insights into the potential of VR for fostering emotional awareness in cyberbullying scenarios.

Summary

Responsibilities

  • Concept Development

  • Prototype Development (Unity)

  • Workshop Facilitation

  • Data Collection

  • Data Analysis

  • Results Documentation

  • Evaluation Creation

The challenge of fostering empathy to combat cyberbullying

Background

Cyberbullying remains a pervasive issue, particularly among young people, with significant emotional and psychological impacts. Created by Prof. Dr. Carolin Wienrich and Jana Krauss from the Chair of Psychology of Intelligent Interactive Systems at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, TooCloseVR was designed to explore how virtual reality could address this challenge by fostering empathy and awareness. This version of TooCloseVR investigated whether personalizing virtual characters could strengthen emotional connections, increase empathy, and reduce the distress associated with cyberbullying. Through workshops with 95 students, we aimed to understand how Psychological Ownership within VR environments could influence behavior and perceptions, providing valuable insights into innovative prevention strategies.

Research

Understanding the Role of Personalization

The research phase of TooCloseVR focused on understanding how psychological ownership and personalized virtual characters could influence empathy, connection, and distress in cyberbullying scenarios. By diving into existing studies and frameworks on user experience and emotional design, we explored the intersection of personalization and empathy. This foundational research informed the design decisions and ensured the application addressed the nuanced emotional dynamics involved in cyberbullying, laying the groundwork for an impactful VR experience.

Development

Expanding TooCloseVR with Personalization

The development of this iteration of TooCloseVR built on the existing application, adding a new layer of personalization and integrating the concept of psychological ownership. Using Unity, we introduced a feature for creating personalized characters, which became the focus of the cyberbullying simulation. Enhancements included a revamped scene manager, character creation tools, and dynamic visual manipulations like memes. These features not only improved the narrative immersion but also shifted the focus from the participant to their virtual character, reducing the emotional burden on users while increasing the educational impact. This foundation ensured technical feasibility and a strong pedagogical value.

Workshop

Facilitating Empathy Workshops with TooCloseVR

To evaluate the impact of personalized characters in a VR environment on empathy, distress, and connection, we conducted a four-day workshop with 95 students aged 12-14 at a school in Germany. Participants experienced the TooCloseVR application in two conditions: personalized and non-personalized characters. My responsibilities included organizing the sessions, guiding students through the VR experience, and collecting data via pre- and post-experience surveys. While the results showed no significant differences between conditions, the workshops provided valuable qualitative feedback and highlighted the potential for VR as an educational tool. Observations and insights from the sessions will inform future iterations of TooCloseVR.

Prof. Dr. Carolin Wienrich - Psychologie Intelligenter Interaktiver Systeme, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Jana Krauss - Psychologie Intelligenter Interaktiver Systeme, Universität Würzburg

Lennart Kontny - Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Kann Aksu - Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Alessio Pascu-Ankenbrand - Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Maximilian Klippert - Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Team & Credits