Looking Back From the Future: Perspective Taking in Virtual Reality Increases Future Self-Continuity

Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, pp. 664687

Abstract

In the current study, we tested a novel perspective-taking exercise aimed at increasing the connection participants felt toward their future self, i.e., future self-continuity. Participants role-played as their successful future self and answered questions about what it feels like to become their future and the path to get there. The exercise was also conducted in a virtual reality environment andin vivoto investigate the possible added value of the virtual environment with respect to improved focus, perspective-taking, and effectiveness for participants with less imagination. Results show that the perspective taking exercise in virtual reality substantially increased all four domains of future self-continuity, i.e., connectedness, similarity, vividness, and liking, while thein vivoequivalent increased only liking and vividness. Although connectedness and similarity were directionally, but not significantly different between the virtual andin vivoenvironments, neither the focus, perspective taking, or individual differences in imagination could explain this difference—which suggests a small, but non-significant, placebo effect of the virtual reality environment. However, lower baseline vividness in thein vivogroup may explain this difference and suggests preliminary evidence for the dependency of connectedness and similarity domains upon baseline vividness. These findings show that the perspective taking exercise in a VR environment can reliably increase the future self-continuity domains.

Authors 4

1. Benjamin Ganschow Aachen Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Institute of Education and Child Studies

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Institute of Education and Child Studies, University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands

2. Liza J. M. Cornet Aachen Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences Institute of Education and Child Studies

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Institute of Education and Child Studies, University of Leiden, Leiden, Netherlands

3. Sven Zebel

   University of Twente

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

4. Jean‐Louis van Gelder corresponding

   Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Criminology, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security, and Law, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany