Virtual reality: A front-row seat to the impact of (un)sustainable behavior

Witness first-hand however your upland of discarded integrative expands implicit the years and what interaction your nutrient has connected the rainforests. Virtual world gives you a front-row spot to the interaction of unsustainable behavior. Communication scientists Marijn Meijers and Hande Sungur person developed highly effectual virtual worlds that springiness radical an up adjacent and idiosyncratic acquisition of however sustainable and unsustainable behaviour marque a important difference.

You locomotion astir a supermarket and whenever you instrumentality a merchandise from the shelves, a pop-up appears with accusation astir the biology interaction of your choice, for example, clearcutting of tropical rainforest to cultivate the thenar lipid successful your cocoa spread. You question done clip to spot however overmuch integrative discarded your mundane products make successful the future, and question backmost to spot however your upland of discarded shrinks erstwhile you marque much sustainable decisions.

VR shown to person a affirmative effect connected sustainability

The archetypal findings from Meijers and Sungur's projects are successful and the results are positive. "Research into the VR supermarket shows it gets the connection crossed much efficaciously and gives radical the feeling that they person power implicit the problem," says Meijers. "They intelligibly spot however buying eco-friendly products contributes to a much sustainable satellite and that unsustainable choices person a antagonistic effect. This affirmative effect connected the participants' behaviour continued to beryllium reflected successful their real-world buying habits aft 2 weeks."

Credit: University of Amsterdam

Does VR power sustainable behaviour successful children?

Habits formed during puerility are beardown predictors of big behavior. Children are truthful a captious people radical for the efforts to promote steadfast and sustainable enactment of nutrient products. Eline Smit and Marijn Meijers (University of Amsterdam) and Nynke van der Laan (Tilburg University) conducted a survey into the imaginable of virtual world to thatch children astir this issue. Will this assistance children to amended recognize and retrieve the nutritional worth and sustainability of nutrient products and volition it power their behaviour successful the existent world?

"In the past year, we person successfully developed and tested our virtual and interactive clip machine," says Sungur. "The archetypal results amusement that virtual world helps beforehand sustainable habits among adults. Undergoing the VR acquisition showed participants however they could trim the magnitude of integrative they consume, which successfully translated into much sustainable real-world choices. Next, we'd similar to trial the merchandise with a younger people audience."

Virtual world reduces intelligence distance

"These studies underline the imaginable of virtual world to face radical with issues that they often consciousness excessively acold removed from to interest about, specified arsenic the interaction of our behaviour connected the planet," reason Meijers and Sungur. "VR besides boosts the realization that you personally person the powerfulness to marque a difference. Social science has taught america that these 2 mechanisms of intelligence region and self-efficacy play a captious relation successful behavioral change."

Credit: University of Amsterdam

The future

Meijers thinks that the virtual supermarket volition beryllium predominantly focused connected the acquisition assemblage truthful radical larn astir sustainable behaviour from a young age. Sungur besides sees large acquisition imaginable for the virtual clip instrumentality to thatch a young assemblage astir integrative waste. "But a aboriginal exertion could besides beryllium Augmented Reality (AR), projecting a virtual satellite onto the existent world," says Meijers, "or utilizing the handheld scanners that are already disposable astatine galore supermarkets."

The reseach was published successful the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

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