Virtual reality helps people understand and care about distant communities

(Press-News.org) For many of us, climate change feels like a distant threat – damage that happens in the future somewhere far away to people we know little about. A new Stanford University-led study reveals how virtual reality can close that distance, enabling users to explore faraway places, develop a sense of attachment to those places, and care more about how a warming world is wreaking havoc on people’s lives. The findings, published this week in Scientific Reports, show that VR experiences significantly reduce people’s indifference to climate change-driven damages in faraway places compared to viewing static images. The findings demonstrate promise for bridging partisan gaps on the issue, and inspiring people to take constructive action, such as supporting pro-environment organizations and policies.

“Virtual reality can make faraway climate impacts feel immediate and personally relevant,” said study lead author Monique Santoso, a PhD student in communication at the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. “By helping people form emotional attachments to distant places, VR fosters constructive emotions that motivate engagement rather than paralyzing fear.”

From indifference to action

The new study involved 163 Stanford students who were randomly assigned to experience one of nine U.S. locations, such as New York City, Des Moines, Miami, and Massachusetts' North Shore, either through VR or static images. Participants listened to a news story about climate change-driven flooding in that location while virtually flying through a realistic 3D version of it.

Those who viewed faraway locations in VR were less dismissive and more frustrated by the climate change story about that location — a response the researchers link to motivation rather than hopelessness. VR participants also described developing stronger feelings of attachment and concern for the places they visited virtually – feelings generally shared by both conservative and liberal-leaning participants.

"One of the main barriers to uptake with our past work is that people don't choose to put on a headset specifically to witness fear appeals about environmental degradation," said study senior author Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab. "With Monique's work, people explore places, gain attachment to those places, and then there are positive downstream effects simply by gaining that attachment.”

Implications for climate communication

While many climate communication efforts rely on emotionally charged stories designed to elicit fear or guilt, the study suggests that simply enabling people to explore and form attachments to faraway places can boost concern and risk perception—without the drawbacks of negative emotional overload. This approach could be key for climate education, journalism, and advocacy campaigns aiming to foster positive engagement with environmental issues.

As VR technology becomes more accessible and affordable, it could offer a scalable way to help people develop emotional connections to climate-affected places worldwide. The study used cheap consumer VR software that lets participants fly through a 3D Map, such as Google Earth VR and Fly.  These experiences are extremely popular, as evidenced by thousands of positive reviews on software platforms such as Steam and the Meta Horizon Store. The researchers suggest future studies examine whether similar effects occur when bridging cultural and geographic distances beyond the U.S.

“The last decade of VR climate change research relied on experiential narratives about how the future will be dire,” said Bailenson. “These simulations often took years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to build. This study shows one doesn’t need to tell a difficult story—simply playing a fun VR game that transports you to a faraway place is enough to make you care.”

 

Bailenson is also the Thomas More Storke Professor and professor of communication in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences; and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Santoso is also a Knight-Hennessy scholar.

Coauthors of the study also include Portia Wang, a PhD student in communication at the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences; and Eugy Han, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who worked on the study while a PhD student in communication at Stanford.


Environmental Venture Projects The Virtual Human Interaction Lab’s ongoing work to connect VR and environmental issues received early support from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment's Environmental Venture Projects grant program. Previous studies in the lab have shown VR can reduce meat consumption, increase empathy, and promote prosocial behavior.

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