virtual reality environment for testing social categorization in VR social psychology

VR Human Avatar Social Categorization Task

This virtual reality environment was developed to investigate how people socially categorize human-like avatars on the basis of their visual appearance. The paradigm presents participants with a series of virtual characters that differ in their outward features, allowing researchers to examine how social judgments and categorization processes emerge when individuals encounter embodied digital agents in an immersive environment.

The task follows a within-subject design, with each participant evaluating multiple avatars across repeated trials. After viewing each avatar, participants provide their judgments directly inside virtual reality using Likert-type response scales, allowing the entire experimental procedure to be completed without removing the headset or interrupting the immersive experience. This makes it possible to collect repeated social evaluations while preserving continuity, immersion, and sense of presence throughout the task.

As in our other VR assessment paradigms, the environment supports in-VR interaction through Meta hand-tracking libraries, enabling participants to navigate the procedure and enter their responses naturally without relying on external input devices.

The system also includes integrated participant and session management. A unique participant ID can be entered at the beginning of the experiment and automatically associated with all subsequent responses. Experimental and questionnaire data are saved directly as a CSV file on the device storage, allowing researchers to match the responses collected in VR with data obtained through external survey platforms such as Qualtrics or comparable systems.

The paradigm is available in two separate builds, one featuring male avatars and one featuring female avatars. This modular structure allows researchers to select the appropriate stimulus set according to the specific aims and design of the study.

The environment is fully guided and designed to minimize the need for researcher intervention during the experimental session. It was developed as a research tool for the systematic study of social categorization processes in immersive virtual environments.

The study for which this paradigm was developed is currently at the minor revision stage, and the corresponding empirical results are expected to become available soon. The downloadable builds should therefore be considered research versions of an actively used experimental paradigm.

cyberball italian version social exclusion

Cyberball – Italian enhanced version

Cyberball is a widely used experimental paradigm developed to study the psychological consequences of social exclusion and ostracism. It takes the form of a simple virtual ball-tossing game in which participants believe they are interacting online with other players, although the behavior of the other players is actually controlled by the experimental program.

In the original paradigm, participants are typically told that the task concerns mental visualization and are asked to imagine the interaction while taking part in a virtual ball-tossing game. They play together with two or more apparent participants and can choose to whom they want to throw the ball whenever they receive it. The apparent co-players are in fact computer-controlled, allowing the experimenter to systematically manipulate the participant’s level of social inclusion.

The interaction generally involves three main phases. First, participants receive instructions introducing the virtual ball-tossing task and are led to perceive the other players as interaction partners. During an initial inclusion phase, the ball is distributed relatively evenly among the players, allowing the participant to experience normal social participation. In the ostracism or exclusion condition, the other players subsequently stop—or substantially reduce—throwing the ball to the participant and instead exchange it primarily with one another. In comparison, participants assigned to an inclusion condition continue receiving the ball throughout the game. This simple manipulation reliably produces an experience of being ignored or excluded despite the minimal and artificial nature of the interaction.

Cyberball has become one of the most established paradigms for investigating responses to social exclusion, including changes in belonging, perceived control, self-esteem, meaningful existence, affect, and subsequent social behavior. The original research showed that even exclusion occurring in a brief computer-mediated interaction can negatively affect participants’ sense of belonging and control.

Custom Italian Version

The version available here is a customized Italian implementation of the Cyberball paradigm, designed for use in experimental research. It preserves the core logic of the original social inclusion/exclusion manipulation while providing a modernized graphical interface and an improved visual presentation.

The paradigm is configurable in Italian, allowing researchers to adapt the experimental setup and interaction parameters to the requirements of their study. This version is intended to provide a more contemporary and flexible implementation of the classic Cyberball task while maintaining its central experimental mechanism for manipulating perceived social inclusion and exclusion.

Original Reference

Williams, K. D., Cheung, C. K. T., & Choi, W. (2000). Cyberostracism: Effects of being ignored over the Internet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(5), 748–762. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.748

web based application for testing romantic rejection online dating app social psychology

Cupidoo – Experimental Online Dating Paradigm

Cupidoo is an experimental online dating paradigm designed to investigate the psychological consequences of romantic rejection and social feedback in digital environments. The platform reproduces the core features of an online dating service while allowing researchers to maintain experimental control over participants’ interactions and the feedback they receive from potential partners.

During the experience, participants create a personal dating profile and are led to believe that the platform uses their profile information and interests to identify compatible romantic partners. They are then presented with a set of potential partners and asked to select those they find most appealing. The system can subsequently manipulate the outcome of these interactions, for example by providing romantic rejection from the selected partners or an appropriate control condition. This makes Cupidoo particularly suitable for experimentally studying social exclusion, emotional responses to rejection, interpersonal aggression, attitudes toward potential partners, and other psychosocial processes associated with online dating.

The paradigm was originally developed and used in the study “Lonely Hearts and Angry Minds: Online Dating Rejection Increases Male (but Not Female) Hostility”, where it was employed to experimentally investigate how rejection from desired online dating partners influences emotional and hostile responses. In that study, participants selected three potential partners; in the rejection condition, all three declined the participant’s matching request, whereas the control condition prevented partner feedback through an ostensible technical failure.

Reference
Andrighetto, L., Riva, P., & Gabbiadini, A. (2019). Lonely hearts and angry minds: Online dating rejection increases male (but not female) hostility. Aggressive Behavior, 45(5), 571–581. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21852