Sexual harassment (SH) occurs when people-mostly women-are targets of unwanted sexual comments, gestures, or actions associated with a lack of empathy on the part of the offender. Virtual Reality (VR) has been defined as the ''ultimate empathy machine'' because it allows the user to take other people's perspective. The present work aims to study the effect of a 360°-video-based VR experience (vs. traditional perspective-taking task) on empathy and related concepts (i.e., violent attitude, perspective taking, sense of oneness) toward a female victim of SH in a male sample. A within-subjects design was used with 44 men who experienced both conditions (360°and narrative). Results showed the superiority of the 360°-video experience over the narrative in increasing empathy, sense of oneness, and perspective taking toward a female victim of SH. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Ample evidence supports the use of Virtual Reality (VR) for anxiety disorders. Nonetheless, currently there is no evidence about moderators or potential negative effects of VR treatment strategies. An Individual Patient Data (IPD) approach was employed with 15 retrieved datasets. The current study sample was composed of 810 patients. Randomized control trials (RCTs) for each primary outcome measure were performed, in addition to moderator analyses of the socio-demographic variables. Deterioration rates were 14 patients (4.0%) in VR, 8 (2.8%) in active control conditions, and 27 (15%) in the WL condition. With regard to receiving treatment, patients in a waiting list control condition had greater odds of deteriorating than in the two active conditions, odds ratios (ORs) 4.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.05, 0.67]. In the case of the socio-demographic variables, none of them were associated with higher or lower odds of deterioration, with the exception of marital status in the WL condition; married people presented a significantly lower probability of deterioration, OR 0.19, 95% CI [0.05, 0.67]. Finally, when comparing pooled effects of VR versus all control conditions, the OR was 0.61 (95% CI 0.31-1.23) in favor of VR, although this result was not statistically significant. This study provides evidence about the deterioration rates of a therapeutic VR approach, showing that the number of deteriorated patients coincides with other therapeutic approaches, and that deterioration is less likely to occur, compared to patients in WL control groups.

In view of the growing interest regarding binge-watching (i.e., watching multiple episodes of television (TV) series in a single sitting) research, two measures were developed and validated to assess binge-watching involvement ("Binge-Watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire", BWESQ) and related motivations ("Watching TV Series Motives Questionnaire", WTSMQ). To promote international and cross-cultural binge-watching research, the present article reports on the validation of these questionnaires in nine languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hungarian, Persian, Arabic, Chinese). Both questionnaires were disseminated, together with additional self-report measures of happiness, psychopathological symptoms, impulsivity and problematic internet use among TV series viewers from a college/university student population (N = 12,616) in 17 countries. Confirmatory factor, measurement invariance and correlational analyses were conducted to establish structural and construct validity. The two questionnaires had good psychometric properties and fit in each language. Equivalence across languages and gender was supported, while construct validity was evidenced by similar patterns of associations with complementary measures of happiness, psychopathological symptoms, impulsivity and problematic internet use. The results support the psychometric validity and utility of the WTSMQ and BWESQ for conducting cross-cultural research on binge-watching.

Recently, educators and instructional designers have focused on the development and implementation of virtual learning environments that effectively combine theoretical and applied knowledge to teach university students. One of the trusts of the Psychology Virtual Teaching Laboratory in collaboration with the IXTLI observatory is to develop dissemination programs to promote the insertion of virtual reality (VR) technologies applied to rehabilitation in their clinical practice. This paper describes the development of (1) agoraphobia VR learning objects to be use as a teaching support tools in class and (2) a multimedia teaching program that incorporate digital video and VR scenarios address to students in the field of mental health. Promotion among professors and students about the use of this technology will allow us to initiate research in our country as well as to validate contextualized applications for our culture, therefore contributing with new advances in this field.

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The sense of embodiment refers to the set of sensations related to having (i.e., ownership), being located in (i.e., location), and controlling (i.e., agency) a virtual body. Recently, 360-degree video-based Virtual Reality (VR) has been used to manipulate the sense of embodiment, generating the body-swap illusion, that is, the illusionary switch from the real body to a virtual one. However, the psychological mechanisms involved in this illusion are still unknown. The present study is a secondary analysis of the study by Ventura et al. (2021) investigating the feasibility of 360-degree video to induce the body swap from a male’s real body to a female virtual body in a sexual harassment virtual environment. In addition, the study explores whether the sense of presence and psychological trait variables related to sexual harassment (i.e., machismo, chivalry, alexithymia, empathic abilities) predict the illusion of owning the body of a female victim of sexual harassment. Forty-four men participated in the study, and the results indicate that the 360-degree video is able to induce the body-swap illusion for location and ownership, but not for agency. Multiple regression analyses showed that the sense of presence was a predictor of the three dimensions of embodiment, but specific psychological traits (i.e., low scores on machismo, high scores on difficulties expressing feelings, and high scores on perspective taking) were also predictor variables of experiencing a greater sense of location and agency in the female virtual body. This study shows that both technological issues and participants’ psychological traits are involved in the experience of the body-swap illusion in a sexual harassment scenario using 360-degree video-based VR.

Palabras clave: Práctica basada en evidencia; tratamientos realidad virtual; programas auto-aplicados; validez externa; trastornos de ansiedad.

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