Use of immersive virtual reality for treating anger

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality

Background:

• Poorly managed anger negatively impacts physical and psychosocial health.
• Cognitive Behavior Therapies (CBT), including exposure therapy, are effective for anger disorders.
• Virtual Reality (VR) shows potential for eliciting emotional responses and aiding anger treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an anger-inducing VR environment.
• To examine the anger arousal potential of VR stimuli.
• To investigate the influence of display modality and user presence on anger reactivity.

Main Methods:

• Development of a VR environment with six anger-provoking video vignettes.
• Assessment of emotional reactivity, state anger, and sense of presence.
• Comparison of immersive Head-Mounted Display (HMD) versus non-immersive flat screen presentation.

Main Results:

• Significant anger arousal was observed during VR exposure.
• Anger arousal was significantly greater in the immersive HMD condition compared to the flat screen.
• User presence moderated VR's effects, with low presence leading to low reactivity across display types.

Conclusions:

• VR environments can effectively elicit anger arousal.
• Immersive VR technology, particularly HMDs, enhances anger induction compared to traditional screens.
• The sense of presence is a critical factor influencing emotional reactivity in VR for anger management.