My new paper, 𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐕𝐑 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡, published with 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢 and 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐨 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐨, is now online on 𝐈𝐄𝐄𝐄 𝐗𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞.

The study explains in an accessible manner how Virtual Reality and avatars are exploited by extremist groups to manipulate the vulnerabilities of young people. The primary risk is “parochial empathy”: youths are pushed to experience exclusive loyalty toward their virtual in-group, wiping out their capacity to understand others, even to the point of justifying violence.

I invite you to read the article to discover how parents, educators, and tech companies can collaborate to protect minors.

LINK: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/11579669