Ethical Issues for the Use of Virtual Reality in the Psychological Sciences
Albert ”Skip” Rizzo, Maria Teresa Schultheis, Barbara O. Rothbaum · 2025
Virtual reality (VR) has undergone a transition in the past few years that has taken it out of the realm of expensive toy and into that of functional technology. Although media hype may have oversold VR’s potential during the early stages of the technology’s development, a uniquely suited match exists between the assets available with VR technology and applications in the psychological sciences. Virtual environments (VEs) have been developed that are now demonstrating effectiveness in a number of areas in clinical psychology and neuropsychology. These applications have shown promise for addressing: fear reduction with phobic clients ( Rothbaum et al., 1997 ), stress management in cancer patients ( Schneider & Workman, 1999 ), reduction of acute pain during wound care and physical therapy with burn patients ( Hoffman et al., 2000 ), body image disturbances in patients with eating disorders ( Riva et al., 1999 ), navigation and spatial training in children with motor impairments ( Stanton et al., 2000 ), functional skills in persons with central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction ( Brown & Stewart, 1996 ) and in the assessment (and in some cases, rehabilitation) of attention ( Rizzo et al., 2000 ), memory ( Brooks et al., 1999 ), spatial skills ( McComas et al., 1998 ; Rizzo et al., 2001a ) and executive cognitive functions ( Pugnetti et al., 1998a ) in both clinical and unimpaired populations. These efforts are no small feat in light of the technological challenges and funding hurdles that many of these researchers have faced in the development of this emerging technology. Also, the clinical and research targets chosen for these applications reflect an informed appreciation for the assets that are available with VR technology by clinicians/developers initially designing and using systems in this area. These initiatives give hope that the 21st century will be ushered in with new and useful tools to advance these areas that have long been mired in the methods of the past.