Premium
Interactive virtual reality assessment of aggressive social information processing in boys with behaviour problems: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Verhoef Rogier E. J.,
Dijk Anouk,
Verhulp Esmée E.,
Castro Bram O.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
clinical psychology and psychotherapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.315
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1099-0879
pISSN - 1063-3995
DOI - 10.1002/cpp.2620
Subject(s) - vignette , psychology , anger , virtual reality , discriminant validity , developmental psychology , applied psychology , social psychology , psychometrics , human–computer interaction , computer science , internal consistency
Children's aggressive behaviour is partly determined by how they process social information (e.g., making hostile interpretations or aiming to seek revenge). Such aggressive social information processing (SIP) may be most evident if children are emotionally engaged in actual social interactions. Current methods to assess aggressive SIP, however, often ask children to reflect on hypothetical vignettes. This pilot study therefore examined a new method that actually involves children in emotionally engaging social interactions: interactive virtual reality (VR). We developed a virtual classroom where children could play games with virtual peers. A sample of boys ( N = 32; ages 8–13) from regular and special education reported on their SIP in distinct VR contexts (i.e., neutral, instrumental gain and provocation). They also completed a standard vignette‐based assessment of SIP. Results demonstrated good convergent validity of interactive VR assessment of SIP, as indicated by significant moderate to large correlations of VR‐assessed SIP with vignette‐assessed SIP for all SIP variables except anger. Interactive VR showed improved measurement sensitivity (i.e., larger variances in SIP compared to vignettes) for aggressive responding, but not for other SIP variables. Discriminant validity (i.e., distinct SIP patterns across contexts) of interactive VR was supported for provocation contexts, but not for instrumental gain contexts. Last, children were more enthusiastic about the VR assessment compared to the vignette‐based assessment. These findings suggest that interactive VR may be a promising tool, allowing for the assessment of children's aggressive SIP in standardized yet emotionally engaging social interactions.