Virtual reality can be used to prevent infidelity and betrayal in real-world relationships - Phys.org

Many radical participate into a monogamous romanticist narration hoping to stay faithful to their spouse and bask each the benefits specified a narration tin offer, including a consciousness of security, belonging and intimacy. However, successful an property wherever the possibilities are seemingly endless, maintaining intersexual exclusivity becomes challenging, arsenic precocious rates of infidelity volition testify.

Prof. Gurit Birnbaum of Reichman University's Ivcher School of Psychology and Prof. Doron Friedman of the Sammy Ofer School of Communications, unneurotic with honors programme postgraduate Yael R. Chen, doctoral pupil Kobi Zholtack, and Dr. Jonathan Giron, investigated however virtual reality tin beryllium utilized to analyse the circumstances that volition assistance radical successful a monogamous relationship defy the temptations of infidelity.

The researchers based their survey connected the inoculation theory, which proposes that vulnerability to weakened threats increases self-control by allowing radical to hole up of clip for a much superior threat. As an illustration, ideate a concern successful which you determine to bounds your nutrient intake successful bid to suffer weight. An brushwood with a forgotten half-eaten cooky whitethorn punctual you of your tendency to suffer weight.

This accrued consciousness of the extremity you acceptable for yourself volition promote you to defy the greater temptation of your favourite cookies, caller retired of the oven, which airs a much important menace to your diet.

The researchers conducted 3 experiments successful which they tested whether vulnerability to a weakened menace to the relationship, successful the signifier of flirting with a virtual character, would assistance immunize radical against real-world temptations that could endanger the stableness of their romanticist relationship. In this context, vulnerability to a weakened menace is expected to marque radical alert of their obligations to their existent partner and hole them successful beforehand to woody with a much superior menace to their relationship.

Accordingly, the researchers hypothesized that vulnerability to a seductive virtual character would summation people's tendency to support their existent relationship, truthful that they would subsequently acquisition much tendency for their existent spouse and comprehend alternate partners arsenic little sexually attractive.

To trial the probe hypothesis, successful each 3 experiments, participants successful monogamous relationships enactment connected virtual world (VR) glasses and "entered" a bar. There they had a speech with a virtual bartender whose sex was the aforesaid arsenic their partner's.

The bartender avatar behaved successful 2 ways: successful the experimental information helium flirted with the participants, and successful the power information helium behaved neutrally towards them. Afterwards, each subordinate met with a existent person. At the extremity of this session, the participants were asked to complaint their feelings and perceptions, some during the enactment with the virtual bartender and during the real-world interaction.

In the archetypal experiment, an charismatic interviewer interviewed the participants astir their attitudes towards assorted interpersonal issues instantly aft the enactment with the virtual bartender. The interviewer utilized a fixed script, asking questions specified arsenic "Should radical play 'hard-to-get' astatine the onset of a relationship?"

The interviewers were trained successful beforehand to radiate warmth and convey involvement successful the participants. At the extremity of the interview, the participants rated however sexually charismatic they perceived the interviewer to be. The findings revealed that aft flirting with the virtual bartender, participants perceived the quality interviewer arsenic little sexually charismatic compared to participants who had had a preliminary enactment with a neutral virtual bartender.

In the 2nd experiment, the researchers sought to analyse whether participants who had engaged successful an brushwood with the flirtatious virtual bartender would not lone comprehend a existent idiosyncratic arsenic little sexually attractive, but would besides minimize their existent enactment with them. To this end, pursuing the virtual interaction, the participants met an charismatic alien who asked them for help.

The experimentation focused connected providing assistance arsenic this is simply a much morganatic transmission of expressing involvement successful a imaginable spouse than blatant flirting, particularly erstwhile radical are successful a narration defined arsenic monogamous.

Specifically, the participants had an brushwood with an charismatic idiosyncratic (of the aforesaid sex arsenic the participant's partner), whom they thought was different subordinate but who was successful information collaborating with the probe team. The subordinate and the probe squad subordinate were asked to beryllium broadside by broadside and physique 2 five-story pyramids utilizing integrative cups.

When the "collaborator" finished gathering the 3rd level of the pyramid, helium knocked it over, ostensibly by accident, saying: "Oh! I'm truthful clumsy! Could you delight assistance maine rebuild my pyramid?" Using a stopwatch hidden successful their pocket, the probe squad subordinate measured the magnitude of clip the participants spent helping to rebuild the pyramid.

As the researchers hypothesized, the participants who had had a preliminary enactment with the seductive virtual bartender spent little clip providing assistance compared to those who had had a preliminary enactment with the neutral bartender avatar.

In the 3rd experiment, the participants were invited to the laboratory with their partners. The couples were separated into antithetic rooms, 1 of them interacting with the virtual bartender, and the different watched a neutral video.

After the virtual interaction, the participants were reunited with their partners, and were asked to person a treatment with them astir the satisfying and frustrating aspects of their enactment lives. At the extremity of the discussion, the participants rated the grade to which they acquisition intersexual tendency towards their spouse and towards different people.

The findings showed that the participants who had had a preliminary enactment with the flirtatious virtual bartender reported a stronger intersexual tendency for their spouse and a reduced intersexual involvement successful different people, compared to those whose preliminary enactment was with the neutral virtual bartender.

Prof. Gurit Birnbaum of Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, says, "The findings of the 3 studies bespeak that it is imaginable to inoculate radical and marque them much resistant to threats to their romanticist relationship. This is the archetypal survey successful the satellite to exemplify however a virtual world enactment tin amended real-world relationships."

"The survey shows that a weakened virtual threat, which by explanation cannot straight harm the relationship, allows radical successful a monogamous narration to hole up of clip to woody much efficaciously with important threats successful the existent world. In this way, virtual world interactions whitethorn lend to people's quality to support unchangeable and satisfying relationships with their existent partners."

The findings are published successful the diary Current Research successful Ecological and Social Psychology.

More information: Gurit E. Birnbaum et al, Biting the forbidden fruit: The effect of flirting with a virtual cause connected attraction to existent alternate and existing partners, Current Research successful Ecological and Social Psychology (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cresp.2022.100084

Provided by Reichman University