Murder on the VR Express: Studying the Impact of Thought Experiments at a Distance in Virtual Reality

Andrew Kissel (), Krzysztof J. Rechowicz and John B. Shull
Additional contact information
Andrew Kissel: Philosophy and Religious Studies, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA
Krzysztof J. Rechowicz: Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center, Old Dominion University, Suffolk, VA 23435, USA
John B. Shull: Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center, Old Dominion University, Suffolk, VA 23435, USA

Societies, 2023, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: Hypothetical thought experiments allow researchers to gain insights into widespread moral intuitions and provide opportunities for individuals to explore their moral commitments. Previous thought experiment studies in virtual reality (VR) required participants to come to an on-site laboratory, which possibly restricted the study population, introduced an observer effect, and made internal reflection on the participants’ part more difficult. These shortcomings are particularly crucial today, as results from such studies are increasingly impacting the development of artificial intelligence systems, self-driving cars, and other technologies. This paper explores the viability of deploying thought experiments in commercially available in-home VR headsets. We conducted a study that presented the trolley problem , a life-and-death moral dilemma, through SideQuestVR, a third-party website and community that facilitates loading applications onto Oculus headsets. Thirty-three individuals were presented with one of two dilemmas: (1) a decision to save five lives at the cost of one life by pulling a switch and (2) a decision to save five lives at the cost of one life by pushing a person onto train tracks. The results were consistent with those of previous VR studies, suggesting that a “VR-at-a-distance” approach to thought experiments has a promising future while indicating lessons for future research.

Keywords: virtual reality; moral dilemma; philosophy; social issues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/3/69/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/3/69/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:3:p:69-:d:1096462

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().