In this study, we test an intervention in which convicted offenders interacted with an age-progressed avatar representing their future selves in virtual reality. During the interaction, they reflected on their current lifestyle, alternating between the perspective of their present self and that of their future self. We hypothesized that this embodied experience would increase their ability to imagine themselves in the future and reduce their engagement in self-defeating behavior, as measured with a self-report survey. In line with expectations, results indicated that the interaction increased vividness of the future self compared to baseline and reduced self-defeating behavior, including alcohol use and overspending, one week later. In addition, increases in vividness were associated with a reduction in self-defeating behavior over and above other concepts relating to the future self, including connectedness, similarity, and valence. The results are based on a small sample and should therefore be considered as indicative of the possibilities of our virtual reality paradigm as an intervention tool to reduce self-defeating behavior.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.