A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Virtual empowerment: manipulating height in virtual reality affects self-related cognitions and personal speech performance evaluation
Authors: Macey, Anna-Leena; Macey, Joseph; Järvelä, Simo; Galeote, Daniel Fernandez; Hamari, Juho
Publisher: TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Publishing place: ABINGDON
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Behaviour and Information Technology
Journal name in source: BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Journal acronym: BEHAV INFORM TECHNOL
Number of pages: 15
ISSN: 0144-929X
eISSN: 1362-3001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2025.2488899(external)
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2025.2488899(external)
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/491824930(external)
Social performance situations, often crucial and expected in today's work contexts, can be perceived as highly challenging and stressful. Therefore, experiencing anxiety in public speaking situations can have a negative impact on individuals' working lives and career prospects. Virtual reality environments offer novel means to practise public speaking anywhere, safely and privately, and to replace simulations with more dynamic and innovative training environments unavailable in real-life scenarios. Additionally, these innovative tools and methods could also be used during virtually implemented real-life interactions as working conditions are increasingly shifting towards more technology-mediated forms. This research investigates the potential for a virtual reality height manipulation (i.e. raised or lowered point-of-view) to influence individuals' self-statements during a stressful speech task and, subsequently, their personal performance evaluation. Results of a strictly controlled, between-subject experiment indicate that participants perceiving themselves taller evaluated their speech performance more positively and experienced fewer negative self-statements during the speech task. Furthermore, perceived tallness was associated with lower levels of public speaking anxiety. These results suggest that even a simple, visual first-person perspective manipulation of virtual reality environment influences individuals' personal evaluation of their own performance and potentially helps them improve their task-related cognitive processes.
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Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported by the Finnish Foundation for Economic Education [grant number 190111]; the Finnish Cultural Foundation [grant number 00230774]; the Academy of Finland [grant number 353268]; and the Academy of Finland Flagship [grant number 337653].
