Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-r8qmj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-14T14:32:58.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

BRIDGING DESIGNER-USER GAP WITH A VIRTUAL REALITY-BASED EMPATHIC DESIGN APPROACH: CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION DETAILS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Xinhui Hu ,
Hernan Casakin  and
Georgi V. Georgiev
Xinhui Hu*
Affiliation:
Center for Ubiquitous Computing, University of Oulu;
Hernan Casakin
Affiliation:
School of Architecture, Ariel University
Georgi V. Georgiev
Affiliation:
Center for Ubiquitous Computing, University of Oulu;
*
Hu, Xinhui, University of Oulu, Finland, xinhui.hu@oulu.fi

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

Without shared experiences, empathy gaps between designers and users are difficult to bridge. Advancing Virtual Reality (VR) has shed new light on this regard by enabling designers to simulate and experience their users' living scenarios in a virtual environment (VE). However, implementing VR-based empathetic design approach requires dealing with critical design questions, such as: (1) whether VR operators can develop empathy for unfamiliar user groups solely based on objective experience and (2) whether VR operators can utilize task-irrelevant contextual information in the VEs. To explore these issues, we designed an experiment based on two VEs with varying levels of detail that simulated the scenes viewed by people with red-green color vision deficiency (CVD). Participants were randomly assigned to either detail-rich or detail-simple VEs to complete neutral item-searching tasks. Results indicate that objective and neutral experience alone cannot elicit empathy towards users, and VR operating designers will utilize task-irrelevant contextual information.

Keywords

Virtual realityEmpathyUser centred designDesign methodsExperience design

Information

Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 3: ICED23 , July 2023 , pp. 797 - 806
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

References

Ahn, S.J., Le, A.M.T. and Bailenson, J. (2013), “The effect of embodied experiences on self-other merging, attitude, and helping behavior”, Media Psychology, Taylor & Francis, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 7–38, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2012.755877.Google Scholar
Batson, C.D., Early, S. and Salvarani, G. (1997), “Perspective taking: Imagining how another feels versus imaging how you would feel”, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Sage Publications Sage CA: Thousand Oaks, CA, Vol. 23 No. 7, pp. 751–758, https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167297237008.Google Scholar
Birch, J. (1997), “Efficiency of the Ishihara test for identifying red-green colour deficiency”, Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, Elsevier, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 403–408, https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-1313.1997.tb00072.x.Google Scholar
Bošnjaković, J. and Radionov, T. (2018), “Empathy: Concepts, theories and neuroscientific basis”, Alcoholism and Psychiatry Research: Journal on Psychiatric Research and Addictions, Klinika za psihijatriju, Klinički bolnički centar Sestre milosrdnice, Vol. 54 No. 2, pp. 123–150, https://dx.doi.org/10.20471/dec.2018.54.02.04.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, C.D., Hutcherson, C.A., Ferguson, A.M., Scheffer, J.A., Hadjiandreou, E. and Inzlicht, M. (2019), “Empathy is hard work: People choose to avoid empathy because of its cognitive costs.”, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, American Psychological Association, Vol. 148 No. 6, p. 962, https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, M.H., Conklin, L., Smith, A. and Luce, C. (1996), “Effect of perspective taking on the cognitive representation of persons: a merging of self and other.”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, American Psychological Association, Vol. 70 No. 4, p. 713, https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.4.713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eres, R. (2016), “Scanning for empathy”, Australasian Science, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 30–31. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.146323167516241Google Scholar
Herrera, F., Bailenson, J., Weisz, E., Ogle, E. and Zaki, J. (2018), “Building long-term empathy: A large-scale comparison of traditional and virtual reality perspective-taking”, PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, Vol. 13 No. 10, p. e0204494, https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204494.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hu, X. and Georgiev, Georgi.V. (2020), “Opportunities with uncertainties: The outlook of virtual reality in the early stages of design”, in Boujut, J.-F., Cascini, G., Ahmed-Kristensen, S., Georgiev, G.V. and Iivari, N. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Design Creativity (ICDC 2020), The Design Society, Oulu, Finland, pp. 215–222, https://dx.doi.org/10.35199/icdc.2020.27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, X., Nanjappan, V. and Georgiev, G.V. (2021a), “Seeing from the Users’ Eyes: An Outlook to Virtual-Reality Based Empathic Design Research”, Proceedings of the Design Society, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 1, pp. 2601–2610, https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pds.2021.521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, X., Nanjappan, V. and Georgiev, G.V. (2021b), “Bursting through the blocks in the human mind: enhancing creativity with extended reality technologies”, Interactions, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 57–61, https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3460114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koskinen, I. (2003), “Empathic design in methodic terms”, Ilpo Koskinen, Katja Battarbee & Mattelmäki, Tuuli (Eds.) Empathic Design. User Experience for Product Design., IT Press, pp. 59–68.Google Scholar
Leonard, D., Rayport, J.F., and others. (1997), “Spark innovation through empathic design”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, pp. 102–115.Google ScholarPubMed
Martingano, A.J., Hererra, F. and Konrath, S. (2021), “Virtual Reality Improves Emotional but Not Cognitive Empathy: A Meta-Analysis”, Technology, Mind, and Behavior, Vol. 2 No. 1, https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000034.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G., Aharon-Peretz, J. and Perry, D. (2009), “Two systems for empathy: a double dissociation between emotional and cognitive empathy in inferior frontal gyrus versus ventromedial prefrontal lesions”, Brain, Oxford University Press, Vol. 132 No. 3, pp. 617–627, https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brain/awn279.Google Scholar
Ventura, S., Badenes-Ribera, L., Herrero, R., Cebolla, A., Galiana, L. and Baños, R. (2020), “Virtual reality as a medium to elicit empathy: A meta-analysis”, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 140 Huguenot Street, 3rd Floor New …, Vol. 23 No. 10, pp. 667–676, https://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0681.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Villalba, É.E., Azócar, A.L.S.M. and Jacques-García, F.A. (2021), “State of the art on immersive virtual reality and its use in developing meaningful empathy”, Computers & Electrical Engineering, Elsevier, Vol. 93, p. 107272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compeleceng.2021.107272Google Scholar
Yagil, Y. (2015), “The Physiology of Empathy: Theoretical and Practical Implications”, Encountering Empathy, p. 3.Google Scholar
Yee, N. and Bailenson, J.N. (2006), “Walk a mile in digital shoes: The impact of embodied perspective-taking on the reduction of negative stereotyping in immersive virtual environments”, Proceedings of PRESENCE, Vol. 24, p. 26.Google Scholar
Young, G.W., O'Dwyer, N. and Smolic, A. (2021), “Exploring virtual reality for quality immersive empathy building experiences”, Behaviour & Information Technology, Taylor & Francis, pp. 1–17, https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2021.1993336.Google Scholar