How, When, and Why to Use Digital Experimental Virtual Environments to Study Social Behavior

Over the last decade, researchers have begun using immersive virtual environment technology (IVET; commonly known as virtual reality) to create digital experimental virtual environments (DEVEs) to investigate social psychological processes. Researchers increasingly recognize that IVET provides powerful and cost-effective ways to manipulate theoretical variables and to measure a host of outcome variables, while providing a remarkable level of experimental control and ecological realism. In this article, we discuss IVET, the nature of social influence within DEVEs, and the use of DEVEs to study social behavior.