Virtual reality (VR) provides social psychologists with exceptional tools to conduct ecologically valid experiments without compromising experimental control, particularly for addressing persistent intergroup issues in societies. VR facilitates safe and controlled interactions with outgroup members, which are not always feasible in real-life settings. As intergroup scholars have widely noted in recent years, while reducing majority prejudice is important for achieving societal harmony, addressing structural inequalities requires empowering minority groups to advocate for their rights along with mobilizing majority groups to join the social movement as outgroup allies. However, unlike prejudice research, the study of collective action among minority and majority groups within VR contexts remains almost totally underexplored, a gap this research aims to address.
Our study involves participants of diverse sexual orientations in a VR simulation replicating a pride parade. The strengths of this research are many-fold: the study looks at the collective action in VR through both majority and minority eyes; it addresses a methodological gap by employing in-VR behavioural measurements rather than relying solely on pre- and post-experience questionnaires, thus providing more accurate and immediate data; the study's design is a field experiment among VR users representing different social backgrounds, which in addition to a larger sample size also shows the potential of future VR interventions to cover larger populations; and lastly it addresses a common and longstanding issue of the in the ecological validity of VR studies by engaging participants into a VR simulation in their chosen safe environments, thereby minimizing researcher intrusion and by testing the role of the simulation in their willingness to engage in real-life collection action in the future.Wehypothesizethat,akintoreal-lifeexperiences,VRexperiencescanfosterintentionsforcollectiveaction,inelinewiththeSocialIdentityModelofCollectiveAction(SIMCA).Accordingtothismodel,socialidentity,feelingsofefficacy,positiveemotionssuchashope(forstructuralchanges)andjoy,moraloutragetowardstheoutgroup,andperceivedinjusticecanpredictfuturecollectiveactionintentions.Thisstudydemonstratesthatmarginalizedgroups,aswellastheirallies,cangainsignificantempowermentandmotivationtoadvocateforamorejustandequitablesocietythroughbriefVRsimulations.
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