The use of avatars to improve empathy and emotional intelligence: A scoping review

Literature suggests that emotional intelligence and empathy play a fundamental role in different contexts such as interpersonal communication, professional performance, educational and healthcare settings (Doǧru, 2022; Estrada, Monferrer, Rodríguez, & Moliner, 2021; Maity et al., 2025; Wang et al., 2019). The use of avatars to improve emotional skills represents a promising field of research and practice, with potential applications in education, therapy and training, in an increasingly digitally interconnected world. A systematic review of the field was conducted to systematize the available evidence on the effectiveness of intervention programs based on the use of avatar embodiment in virtual environments to improve participants' emotional skills. The search was performed on Pubmed and Scopus and, applying exclusion criteria, produced 20 studies. The results clearly support the hypothesis that the virtual environment through the use of the avatar has a significant positive impact on the ability of participants to improve affective heuristics and emotional responses understood as the ability to identify one's own and others' emotions but also to know how to use them effectively in social interactions. This review highlights the relevance of the use of intervention programs based on the embodiment of avatars in virtual contexts to improve emotional skills. Future research efforts could focus on the role of specific characteristics underlying the embodiment of VR to deepen the understanding of such variables and maximize the effectiveness of this technology.