Cross Liam, Nixon Wesley, Smith Jack, Tseng Chia-Huei, Kitamura Yoshifumi, Endo Isamu, Savostijanovs Juris, Atherton Gray
School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
Department of Psychology, Institute of Population Health, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2025 Apr 28;16:1536761. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1536761. eCollection 2025.
Interpersonal synchrony can enhance social bonding, cooperation, and reduce negative biases, especially toward out-group members. However, studying social synchrony faces practical challenges. To address this, we introduce a customizable virtual reality (VR) application and report two experiments evaluating its effectiveness. In the first experiment, participants drummed either in sync or out of sync with a virtual partner matching their gender, age, and ethnicity. Synchronous drumming increased feelings of affiliation but did not influence pro-social behavior in an economic game. The second experiment involved Caucasian participants drumming with Middle Eastern avatars. Synchronous drumming not only increased trust and affiliation but also reduced prejudicial attitudes toward Middle Eastern refugees. These findings suggest that virtual synchrony can strengthen social bonds and decrease bias, offering both theoretical insights and practical applications.
人际同步可以增强社会联系、合作，并减少负面偏见，尤其是对外群体成员的偏见。然而，研究社会同步面临实际挑战。为解决这一问题，我们引入了一个可定制的虚拟现实（VR）应用程序，并报告了两项评估其有效性的实验。在第一个实验中，参与者与匹配其性别、年龄和种族的虚拟伙伴同步或不同步地击鼓。同步击鼓增加了归属感，但在经济游戏中并未影响亲社会行为。第二个实验让白人参与者与中东虚拟化身击鼓。同步击鼓不仅增加了信任和归属感，还减少了对中东难民的偏见态度。这些发现表明，虚拟同步可以加强社会联系并减少偏见，提供了理论见解和实际应用。
