Skip to main content

Project B Part A: VR/AR for Non-Profit Organizations

AR/VR technologies effectively engage and evoke empathy in users that can be harnessed by nonprofit organizations to encourage positive social change. 

By Irina Bokun in 2020

Irin wanted to talk about how augmented and virtual reality can assist in developing consumer empathy for nonprofit needs. Her study examines the effects of using AR/VR and how much empathy it can invoke in the user. She wants to argue that AR/VR technology is the most effective means of bridging non profit orgs and their understanding of consumer empathy. One issue that arises is how VR/AR technology is associated with expensive experiences limited to entertainment purposes, such as the Oculus or Pokemon Go. For her prototype, she creates an app that basically acts as a search engine for non-profit orgs where you can use your smart divide to enter the environment in VR, navigate in augmented reality, or use geolocation filters. She even tests her prototype on a local dog park for the "Piedmont Park Conservancy". 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Psychology study on Fear Appeal

"Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence" This journal study gives an in-depth study of fear appeal theory including how it works in marketing and health settings, theories that contradict, and how to assess it effectively.  Abstract:  "Following a brief overview of the use of fear arousal in health education practice and the structure of effective fear appeals according to two main theoretical frameworks—protection motivation theory and the extended parallel process model—the findings of six meta-analytic studies in the effectiveness of fear appeals are summarized." "Threatening health messages are popular in health education design. For example, the introduction of health warnings on cigarette packages in 2002 was accompanied by wide-scale media attention on television, radio and in newspapers throughout Europe. Soon after the introduction of these messages, national polls were presented that suggested that people smoked less becaus...

Risk Perception Theory

Risk Compensation/Risk Homeostasis Theory is According to Campbell Institute "people tend to take more risks when they feel a greater sense of security. In other words, individuals adjust their level of risk-taking behavior depending on the safety measures that are in place (Wilde, 1994)." I find this theory very interesting because it can easily be applied to the Netflix series Squid Games, where hundreds of people willingly fight fight for the death for a chance to become a billionaire. Even though it's a fictional show, it perfectly fits the framework of this theory's risk-reward parameters.  Risk Compensation is a subsidiary of Risk Perception Theory- which simply means the study of one's ability to accept or discern a risk. https://www.thecampbellinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Campbell-Institute-Risk-Perception-WP.pdf

Fear Appeal - APA Article

"Fear-Based Appeals Effective at Changing Attitudes, Behaviors After All" This article summarizes a meta-analysis on Fear-Appeal effectiveness. This study looked at 127 research articles on this theory totalling over 27,000 people in 1,962 experiments. "They found fear appeals to be effective, especially when they contained recommendations for one-time only (versus repeated) behaviors and if the targeted audience included a larger percentage of women. They also confirmed prior findings that fear appeals are effective when they describe how to avoid the threat (e.g., get the vaccine, use a condom)." -"Fear-based appeals appear to be effective at influencing attitudes and behaviors, especially among women, according to a comprehensive review of over 50 years of research on the topic, published by the American Psychological Association." -“These appeals are effective at changing attitudes, intentions and behaviors. There are very few circumstances under which...