Abstract
Empathy is an important aspect of human interaction that helps individuals form meaningful relationships and connect with others. Although levels of empathy have been measured using paper–pencil tests, there are no tools to identify the different types of empathy. The current study aimed to develop and validate the Virtual Reality Empathy Test (VRET), which was designed to identify adolescent empathy types. The types of empathy were developed based on three pairs of dimensions (cognitive versus affective empathy, positive versus negative empathy, and majority versus minority empathy). VRET consists of three virtual scenarios that include positive and negative situations (e.g., winning a gold medal or losing in the first round of a badminton tournament). As each scenario progressed, the participants were asked to answer 13 questions during the first and second scenarios, and eight questions during the third scenario. The VRET was administered to 90 South Korean high school students. Hypothesized differences between existing empathy scales and VRET results were found, indicating a high convergent and discriminant validity. VRET, as a unique test of empathy type, can be a valuable tool to assist adolescents in developing a balanced sense of empathy.
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Acknowledgements
The current work was supported by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the ITRC (Information Technology Research Center) support program (IITP-2021-0-01592) supervised by the IITP (Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation).
Funding
This study was funded by MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the ITRC (Information Technology Research Center) support program, Grant/Award Number: IITP-2021-0-02051; IITP (Institute for Information & Communications Technology Plan ning & Evaluation).
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This research was supported by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the. ITRC (Information Technology Research Center) support program (IITP-2021–0-01592) supervised by the IITP (Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation)
Appendix
Appendix
Scenario | Questions | Possible answers | Scoring |
|---|---|---|---|
# 1 | Positive situation | ||
1. Which one of the following did you experience more while talking with Sangmin? | a) I easily understood what Sangmin was feeling b) I felt what Sangmin was feeling | a) = 1 point for C b) = 1 point for A | |
2. From the list of emotion words, choose the emotion you felt after listening to Sangmin’s story? (up to five words) | Delighted, upset, happy, depressed, sad, excited, worried, proud, excited, impressed, blessed, uncertain, embarrassed, interested, pitiful, admired | Five relevant words = 1 point for A | |
3. How much do you agree with “I was excited and happy as if I confessed and was accepted”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for A | |
4. How much do you agree with “I tried to imagine what Sangmin was feeling as much as possible when I was hearing his story”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for C | |
Negative situation | |||
5. Which one of the following did you experience more while talking with Sihwan? | a) I easily understood what Sihwan was feeling b) I felt what Sihwan was feeling | a) = 1 point for C b) = 1 point for A | |
6. From the list of emotion words, choose the emotion you felt after listening to Sihwan’s story? (up to five words) | Delighted, upset, happy, depressed, sad, excited, worried, proud, excited, impressed, blessed, uncertain, embarrassed, interested, pitiful, admired | Five relevant words = 1 point for A | |
7. How much do you agree with “I felt down and sad as if I confessed and was rejected”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for A | |
8 How much do you agree with “I tried to imagine what Sihwan was feeling as much as possible when I was hearing his story”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for C | |
9. There are gift icons that you can give to your friends. Choose the person you want to give the gift icon to: Sangmin or Sihwan | Sangmin or Sihwan | Sangmin = 1 point for P Sihwan = 1 point for N | |
10. When you heard the story of Sangmin who confessed successfully and a friend Sihwan whose confession was rejected, whose story did you want to hear more? | Sangmin or Sihwan | Sangmin = 1 point for P Sihwan = 1 point for N | |
11. Whose feelings influenced you more – Sangmin whose confession got accepted or Sihwan whose confession got rejected? | Sangmin or Sihwan | Sangmin = 1 point for P Sihwan = 1 point for N | |
12. When there are many people who are happy like Sangmin who made a successful confession, and one person who is having a hard time like Sihwan whose confession was rejected; whose story do you want to hear more, from (Sangmin) group or (Sihwan)? [Show images of several Sangmins and one Sihwan] | Sangmin or Sihwan | Sangmin = 0.5 point for M Sihwan = 0.5 point for m | |
13. When there is one person who is happy like Sangmin who confessed successfully, and there are many people who are struggling like Sihwan whose confession was rejected, which one do you want to hear more from (Sihwan) group or (Sangmin)? [Show images of several Sihwans and one Sangmin] | Sangmin or Sihwan | Sangmin = 0.5 point for m Sihwan = 0.5 point for M | |
#2 | Positive situation | ||
1. Which one of the following did you experience more while talking with Jaehong? | a) I easily understood what Jaehong was feeling b) I felt what Jaehong was feeling | a) = 1 point for C b) = 1 point for A | |
2. From the list of emotion words, choose the emotion you felt after listening to Jaehon’s story? (up to five words) | Delighted, upset, happy, depressed, sad, excited, worried, proud, excited, impressed, blessed, uncertain, embarrassed, interested, pitiful, admired | Five relevant words = 1 point for A | |
3. How much do you agree with “I was excited and happy as if I won first place in the competition”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for A | |
4. How much do you agree with “I tried to imagine what Jaehon was feeling as much as possible when I was hearing his story”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for C | |
Negative situation | |||
5. Which one of the following did you experience more while talking with Juyeon? | a) I easily understood what B was feeling b) I felt what B was feeling | a) = 1 point for C b) = 1 point for A | |
6. From the list of emotion words, choose the emotion you felt after listening to Juyeon’s story? (up to five words) | Delighted, upset, happy, depressed, sad, excited, worried, proud, excited, impressed, blessed, uncertain, embarrassed, interested, pitiful, admired | Five relevant words = 1 point for A | |
7. How much do you agree with “I felt down and sad as if I lost in the first round”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for A | |
8 How much do you agree with “I tried to imagine what Juyeon was feeling as much as possible when I was hearing his story”? | 5-rating scale (1 = I strongly disagree, 5 = I strongly agree) | 4&5 = 1 point for C | |
9. There is a glass of water that you can give to your friends. Choose the person you want to give a glass of water to: Jaehong or Juyeon | Jaehong or Juyeon | Jaehong = 1 point for P Juyeon = 1 point for N | |
10. When you heard the story of Jaehong who won first place in the competition and Juyeon who lost in the first round, whose story did you want to hear more? | Jaehong or Juyeon | Jaehong = 1 point for P Juyeon = 1 point for N | |
11. Among the stories of Jaehong who won first place in the competition or a friend Juyeon who lost in the first round, whose feelings influenced you more? | Jaehong or Juyeon | Jaehong = 1 point for P Juyeon = 1 point for N | |
12. When there are many people who are happy like Jaehong who won first place in the competition and one person who is having a hard time like Juyeon who lost in the first round, whose story do you want to hear more from (Jaehong) group or (Juyeon)? [Show images of several Jaehongs and one Juyeon] | Jaehong or Juyeon | Jaehong = 0.5 point for M Juyeon = 0.5 point for m | |
13. When there is one person who is happy like Jaehong who won first place in the competition, and there are many people who are struggling like Juyeon who lost in the first round, which one do you want to hear more from (Juyeon) group or (Jaehong)? [Show images of several Juyeons and one Jaehong] | Jaehong or Juyeon | Jaehong = 0.5 point for m Juyeon = 0.5 point for M | |
#3 | Negative situation for minority and positive situation for majority | ||
1. Which one of the following did you experience more? | a) I can understand more the positive feelings of celebrating the birthday (majority) than the negative feeling of losing a cell phone (Eunwoo) b) I can understand more the negative feeling of losing a cell phone (Eunwoo) than the positive feelings of celebrating the birthday (majority) | a) = 1 point for M b) = 1 point for m | |
2. Which one of the following did you want to do more? | a) I want to help Eunwoo to feel better b) I want to celebrate the birthday with them | a) = 1 point for m b) = 1 point for M | |
3. Which one of the following did you feel more? | a) I feel bad for Eunwoo b) I feel good for students who are celebrating the birthday | a) = 1 point for m b) = 1 point for M | |
4. Which one of the following did you want to do more? | a) I want to do what Eunwoo wants to do with me b) I want to do what students who are celebrating the birthday want to do with me | a) = 1 point for m b) = 1 point for M | |
Positive situation for minority and negative situation for majority | |||
5. Which one of the following did you experience more? | a) I can understand more the negative feelings of losing in a soccer competition (majority) than the positive feeling of winning in a running competition (Woohyun) b) I can understand more the positive feeling of winning in a running competition (Woohyun) than the negative feelings of losing in a soccer competition (majority) | a) = 1 point for M b) = 1 point for m | |
6. Which one of the following did you want to do more? | a) I want to congratulate Woohyun b) I want to help students who lost in a soccer competition | a) = 1 point for M b) = 1 point for m | |
7. Which one of the following did you feel more? | a) I feel good for Woohyun b) I feel bad for the students who lost in a soccer competition | a) = 1 point for M b) = 1 point for m | |
8. Which one of the following did you want to do more? | c) I want to do what students who lost in a soccer competition want to do with me d) I want to do what Woohyun wants to do | a) = 1 point for M b) = 1 point for m | |
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Kim, E., Laine, T.H., Suk, H.J. et al. Using immersive virtual reality in testing empathy type for adolescents. Curr Psychol 43, 16183–16197 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05534-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05534-9