Enter the image of an expert to become one? At first glance, this is not enough. However, the participants in the experiment, who tried on the virtual appearance of Sigmund Freud, were able to better understand their problems. How is this possible?
Psychologists at University College London (UK) have found an ingenious way to stimulate our introspection skills. They conducted an experiment in virtual reality in which volunteers with the help of helmets and sensors reincarnated as psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and gave advice to themselves. It turned out that as a result of such an unusual session, they really penetrated deeper into the essence of their problems than if they simply thought about them alone.1.
Your own analyst
To participate in the experiment, psychologist Mel Slater (Mel Slater) and his colleagues selected men who sought the advice of a psychoanalyst. A realistic three-dimensional model (avatar) of each of them was created on a computer. Participants had motion capture sensors attached to their bodies so they could control their avatar, and special virtual reality helmets were put on their heads. The movements of the models were precisely synchronized with the real movements of the participants, and this created a powerful illusion of the reality of what the participants saw on the screens.
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During the experiment, the authors invited the participants to talk about their psychological problems … with themselves. At the first stage of the experiment, the participants described their problems and asked questions to a psychoanalyst who was an exact copy of Sigmund Freud. Then they moved into Freud’s body and gave answers already on his behalf. At the same time, they listened to their answer, being already in the body of their avatar, and their voice was specially changed. The exchange of remarks could go on for as long as the participant wanted. Another time, Freud was not present, and the participant asked a question and answered, all the while being in the body of his avatar. Approximately as if he were talking to himself in real life.
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The results showed that when the participants talked to themselves in the guise of Freud, their advice was more accurate and insightful. “Internal dialogue can be an effective problem-solving strategy, but doing it for an expert is even more effective,” explains Mel Slater. “Our experiment contained an additional option where the avatar’s movements were not synchronized with the real movements of the person. In this case, there was no illusion of identification, and in fact the effect of the dialogue was reduced to nothing. This proves that it is the illusion of fully living in someone else’s image that changes our thought process.
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Why is this happening? After all, in fact, even imagining ourselves in the role of Freud, we still remain ourselves. The authors suggest that a kind of placebo effect works here: we get used to the role of an expert and really begin to think like experts. “Before moving on to the experimental phase, we conducted a survey to find out which of the psychoanalysts is considered the epitome of their profession. Freud was not only the most authoritative psychoanalyst, but his appearance was also very recognizable and stereotyped.
“Our results open up interesting prospects for psychological counseling,” concludes Mel Slater. “For example, psychoanalysts could use virtual reality as an auxiliary tool for working with clients.” Or, at worst, amuse your vanity by starting a dispute with the founder of psychoanalysis himself.
1 Nature Scientific Reports, 2015, vol. 5.