The Impact of the Order of Vicarious and Self Experiences in a VR Environment on Self-Efficacy
Tetsunari Inamura · 2023
In systems where agents teach skills to users in environments such as VR or digital applications, the efficiency of skill improvement is crucial. For designing such skill-teaching and assistive systems, this study focuses on applying Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy. Demonstrations and assistance by the agent are considered vicarious experiences, which is a crucial component for improving self-efficacy. This study investigates and analyzes the impact of vicarious experiences on self-efficacy, specifically examining the sequence of vicarious and self experiences and the resulting differences in performance. We developed a virtual reality (VR) juggling experiment to investigate how altering the sequence of vicarious and self experiences impacts self-efficacy. The results showed that the group for which the performance was tested after the vicarious experience showed reduced self-efficacy. This suggests that the sequence in which vicarious experiences are presented can impact self-efficacy. Because Bandura’s theory did not specify the order of experiences, our findings would contribute to considering lesson designs and how assistive agents must behave to enhance users’ self-efficacy.