THE INFLUENCE OF MORAL FACTORS ON BULLYING BEHAVIORS IN ADOLESCENCE: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROPOSAL FOR A VR INTERVENTION TO PROMOTE PERSPECTIVE-TAKING SKILLS
THE INFLUENCE OF MORAL FACTORS ON BULLYING BEHAVIORS IN ADOLESCENCE: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROPOSAL FOR A VR INTERVENTION TO PROMOTE PERSPECTIVE-TAKING SKILLS

Summary/Abstract: In the last decade, bullying and cyberbullying has known a rapid growth with worrisome consequences in regards to adolescent mental health. In the process of understanding the factors that influence bullying behaviours, researchers turned towards investigating moral factors, such as moral emotions, especially disgust and anger, and particularly a process called” moral disengagement” (MD;[22]). Moral disengagement is thought to contribute to the reason why some individuals, although they express disgust and anger in response to bullying behaviors, do not intervene in such situations. The objective of this research is to propose a VR based intervention aimed at increasing prosocial behaviour by improving perspective taking-skills and empathy concern. In the current paper, we suggest an interactive training simulation program where adolescent volunteers will take their own perspective or the perspective of the avatar in virtual reality, being instructed to try and understand its mental states. The situations encountered in VR are meant to trigger feelings of disgust, anger or elevation, the latter being an emotion elicited by witnessing acts of moral goodness. By increasing the propensity to take the perspective of the avatar, we aim to decrease the process of moral disengagement, especially in bullying and cyberbullying situations and increase prosocial behavior in adolescents.

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