Examination of Virtual Reality as a Learning Material in Moral Dilemma Discussions: Focusing on the Effects of Avatar Costume

Purpose: This study examined the educational effects of virtual reality (VR) technology as a learning material for moral dilemma discussions. Method: In a pretest-posttest research design, 17 female university students participated in an experiment to determine the effectiveness of using VR moral dilemma discussion (VRMDD) learning material to increase empathy and group cohesion. Experiment 1 compared face-to-face (FTF), VR head-mounted display, and VR/desktop conditions. Experiment 2 compared the MDD of participants’ avatars in “matching costumes” (unified) and “not matching costumes” (non-unified) conditions. Results: In the FTF condition, perspective-taking decreased, and personal distress increased. Empathic concern decreased, and fantasy increased in VR/desktop conditions, suggesting a decreasing trend toward empathic concern and an increasing trend toward fantasy. Although post-test group cohesion was lower in the VR/desktop conditions, the difference was not significant based on the costumes.