Designing Mind(set) and Setting for Profound Emotional Experiences in Virtual Reality

Author/Creator

Alexandra Kitson, Ekaterina R. Stepanova, Ivan A. Aguilar, Natasha Wainwright, Bernhard E. Riecke

Quick Summary

Virtual reality can facilitate profound emotional experiences, such as awe, by considering the influence of "set and setting," which includes mindset and the environment. A design refinement process revealed insights on user experience and behavioral measures related to awe, contributing to understanding how these factors enhance emotional experiences in VR.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to support profound emotional experiences, such as experiencing awe when virtually viewing the Earth from space. In doing so, VR can potentially both give people positive emotional experiences contributing to their overall well-being and give researchers a way to study these profound emotional experiences in a more controlled environment. Through a design refinement process, we explored the potential influence of the "set and setting''--one's mindset and the physical and social environment--when transitioning people into and out of VR designed to support profound emotional experiences. We present our findings from a design refinement session and a case study exploring how set and setting may support the profound emotional experience of awe. We discuss common themes in user experience and trends of awe-related behavioural and introspective measures. Our results contribute to the discourse around the role of the design of set and setting in overall user experience.

Designing Mind(set) and Setting for Profound Emotional Experiences in Virtual Reality | Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference

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