Perspective-taking, whether through imagination or virtual-reality interventions, seems to improve intergroup relations; however, what intervention leads to better outcomes remains unclear. This pre-registered study collected measures of empathy and race bias from 90 participants, split into one of three perspective-taking groups: embodied perspective-taking, mental perspective-taking, and a control group. We drew on virtual-reality technology alongside a Black confederate across all conditions. Only in the first group, participants got to exchange real-time viewpoints with the confederate and literally “see through the eyes of another.” In the two other conditions, participants either imagined a day in the life of the Black confederate or in their own life, respectively. Our findings show that, compared to the control group, the embodied perspective-taking group scored higher on empathy sub-components. On the other hand, both perspective-taking interventions differentially affected neither explicit nor implicit race bias. Our study suggests that embodiment of an outgroup can enhance empathy.

无论是通过想象还是虚拟现实干预，视角转换似乎都可以改善群体间的关系；然而，什么样的干预能带来更好的结果仍不清楚。这项预先注册的研究收集了 90 名参与者的同理心和种族偏见的措施，分为三个观点采择组之一：具体观点采择、心理观点采择和控制组。我们在所有条件下都与黑人同盟一起利用了虚拟现实技术。只有在第一组中，参与者才能与同盟者实时交换观点，从字面上“看穿另一个人的眼睛”。在另外两种情况下，参与者要么分别想象黑人同盟的生活或他们自己的生活中的一天。我们的研究结果表明，与对照组相比，具身观点采择组在同理心子成分上得分更高。另一方面，两种观点采择干预对显性或隐性种族偏见的影响都不同。我们的研究表明，外群体的体现可以增强同理心。