In this episode, we dive into the world of Virtual Reality and prejudice reduction. We explore whether embodying a different avatar can truly build empathy, when these immersive experiences might backfire and inadvertently increase bias, how researchers are using VR to tackle real-world problems like hiring discrimination and what the future holds for this powerful technology.

The episode features Cassandra Crone and Dr Matilde Tassinari. We learned a lot from them, so we hope you enjoy the conversation as well!Please get in touch with any thoughts and suggestions. You can reach Emine at emine.bilgen@btu.edu.tr or Lukas at l.wallrich@bbk.ac.uk - or email contactresearchnetwork@gmail.com

If you want to find out more about our guests and their work, they recommended the following papers to start:

Crone, C. L., Richardson, M. J., & Kallen, R. (2025). Can Virtual Reality Improve Cisgender-Transgender Relations? Embodied Interactions in Perspective Taking and Intergroup Contact. OSF Preprint, https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ezrnw_v1

Tassinari, M., Aulbach, M. B., & Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (2022). The use of virtual reality in studying prejudice and its reduction: A systematic review. PloS one, 17(7), e0270748. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270748

Cover photo by Nicolas Arnold on Unsplash

Thanks for listening to the first episode of Contact Research Now. In this episode, we discuss new evidence on positive and negative contact - including whether "bad is stronger than good", whether we need to move beyond the simple labels of "positive" and "negative" contact, whether positive contact may offer protection against the effects of negative contact, and whether negative contact has specific effects on people high in authoritarianism - and much more.

Please get in touch with any thoughts and suggestions. You can reach Emine at emine.bilgen@btu.edu.tr or Lukas at l.wallrich@bbk.ac.uk - or email contactresearchnetwork@gmail.com

In this episode, we discussed four recent papers on positive and negative intergroup contact. You can find open access links to all of them below.

With Stefania Paolini:

Paolini, S., Gibbs, M., Sales, B., Anderson, D., & McIntyre, K. (2024). Negativity bias in intergroup contact: Meta-analytical evidence that bad is stronger than good, especially when people have the opportunity and motivation to opt out of contact. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000439

With Sarina Schäfer:

Schäfer, S. J., Kros, M., Hewstone, M., Schmid, K., Fell, B. F., Jaspers, E., ... & Christ, O. (2025). Differential effects of positive versus negative contact: The importance of distinguishing valence from intensity. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 28(1), 140-163. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302241258070

With Giulia Rosa Policardo:

Prati, F., Policardo, G. R., Hewstone, M., & Rubini, M. (2024). How Positive and Negative Intergroup Contact May Shape the Communication of Discrimination Toward Migrants. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 43(3), 273-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X241237260. Preprint: https://cris.unibo.it/retrieve/a4bf348e-5df8-4ed4-b10f-2a4cbd7a0380/MainManuscriptJLSP.pdf

With Jasper Van Assche:

Pollmanns, C., & Van Assche, J. (2025). The extended contact asymmetry: Authoritarians benefit more from positive but do not suffer more from negative extended intergroup contact. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 28(1), 115-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302241249051, Preprint: https://contact-research-network.github.io/PollmannsVanAssche_preprint.pdf