Effects of Mindsets and VR Experiences on Empathy and Prosociality

Abstract

Recently, as social conflicts become a serious problem, empathy and prosociality have emerged as helpful solutions. Prior studies have demonstrated that a growth mindset and VR experiences independently enhance empathic and prosocial attributes. However, the combined influence of a growth mindset and VR experiences is yet to be explored. The present research investigated whether a growth mindset and VR experiences affect the level of empathy and prosociality. In Study 1, we compared the effect of a growth mindset and a fixed mindset on empathic and prosocial indices. Participants were instructed to read an article on each type of mindset (i.e., malleable and fixed) and leave comments to comfort others. In Study 2, we implemented the combined intervention to understand the potential synergistic effect of using a growth mindset and VR experiences together. We developed a prosocial VR program and let participants play it. Both in Study 1 and Study 2, our manipulation of letting participants endorse a particular type of mindset was effective. Participants who supported a growth mindset in Study 1 showed significantly higher levels of empathic effort and state empathy than those who supported a fixed mindset. The growth mindset group also reported higher scores in empathic motives, trait empathy, and prosociality, but the differences were not statistically significant. In Study 2, participants in the combined group showed significantly higher empathic motives than those in the VR-only and the control groups. The combined group also reported the highest scores in empathic effort, trait empathy, and hypothetical prosocial behavior across the groups, but the differences were not significant. The current study suggests that endorsing a growth mindset on empathy fosters empathy and prosociality. Furthermore, the study shows that using both a cognitive training method (i.e., a growth mindset) and a behavioral one (i.e., VR experience) is critical for empathy education.