Research has shown that new experiences shared by romantic couples contribute to maintaining the quality of the relationship. But what about couples in long-distance relationships?
Now, new research conducted in part at Texas State University indicates that novel experiences shared in virtual reality (VR) can also contribute to maintaining healthy relationships.
Rhonda Balzarini, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at Texas State University and an affiliate researcher at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, led Anya Sharma, York University, Toronto, and Amy Muise, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at York University, Toronto, on the study. Their findings, “Virtually Connected: Do Shared Novel Activities in Virtual Reality Enhance Self-Expansion and Relationship Quality?” are published in the journal Behavioral Sciences.
“Self-expansion theory suggests that people are motivated to form and maintain close connections because relationships provide opportunities to expand their identities,” Balzarini explained. “Partners can experience self-expansion by sharing new activities, learning from each other and fostering mutual growth.
“We found that shared novel experiences in VR, as opposed to a video chat, enhanced presence, or the sense that your partner was there with you, and this, in turn, was associated with greater self-expansion and boosts in relationship satisfaction, particularly for VR novices,” she said. “We also found that accounting for how immersed participants were in the experience, shared novel VR experiences, in contrast with more mundane VR simulations, enhanced self-expansion, reduced boredom and indirectly boosted relationship satisfaction.”
To conduct the study, the researchers recruited undergraduate students and their partners who were in romantic relationships. In Study 1, couples were asked to engage in shared, novel experiences while in separate rooms, either using VR or video. Couples either used VR to go on a virtual hot air balloon ride through a Kenyan safari or they viewed the same experience during a video chat. In Study 2, couples were asked to engage in either a shared, novel experience, once again in separate rooms, and this time they either a shared VR gondola ride or a mundane VR experience—in this case, sitting on a porch.
In both cases, the couples experiencing the VR hot air balloon or gondola rides reported more positive outcomes than their counterparts who experienced less novel interactions.
This research provides some initial support for the idea that VR technology can offer a unique opportunity to simulate shared experiences for couples when they are apart, helping to maintain their relationship. More research is needed to better understand when and under what conditions VR experiences are most effective in bolstering the relationship quality among romantic partners.
This research was supported by the Insight Development Grant (Muise and Balzarini), a Mitacs Elevate Grant (Balzarini and Muise), a Canadian Foundation for Innovation Grant and a York Research Chair award (Muise).