Relationship between client laughter and session outcomes in metaverse counseling

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Virtual Reality (VR) Therapy
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Growing interest in virtual reality (VR) psychotherapy.
• Need to understand client-therapist dynamics in metaverse counseling.
• Limited research on non-verbal cues like laughter in VR therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the relationship between client laughter types and session outcomes in metaverse counseling.
• Differentiate between session-level and client-level laughter effects.
• Compare findings with in-person counseling dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Multilevel analysis separating session-level (within-client) and client-level (between-client) variables.
• Dataset comprised 159 sessions from 26 clients.
• Analysis focused on different types of client laughter (cheerful, nervous, polite, reflective, contemptuous).

Main Results:

• Client's cheerful and nervous laughter positively impacted session outcomes at the session level (within-client).
• Nervous laughter at the session level was not significantly related to outcomes when considering between-client effects.
• No significant relationship found for polite, reflective, or contemptuous laughter, or for any laughter type at the client level (between-clients).
• Significant within-level interaction effect between session and cheerful laughter on outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Specific types of client laughter, particularly cheerful laughter within a session, can positively influence metaverse counseling outcomes.
• Laughter's impact varies depending on whether it's analyzed within or between clients.
• Findings suggest nuances in non-verbal communication in virtual therapy settings compared to in-person therapy.