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VR Study Says 40% of Us Are Paranoid

Roland Piquepaille writes "UK researchers have recently used virtual reality to check if people had paranoid thoughts when using public transportation. Their VR tube ride experiment revealed that 40% of the participants experienced exaggerated fears about threats from others. Until now, researchers were relying on somewhat unreliable questionnaires to study paranoid thoughts which are often triggered by ambiguous events such as someone laughing behind their back. With the use of VR, psychiatrists and psychologists have a new tool which can reliably recreate social interactions. As the lead researcher said, VR 'is a uniquely powerful method to detect those liable to misinterpret other people.'."

7 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds dangerous.... by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maube I am being paranoid here, but 40%????

    That would explain a lot of the stupidity going on with terrorism and other tools uses to manipulate the public.

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    1. Re:Sounds dangerous.... by c_forq · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you ever spend some time in nature you will learn that it isn't only the modern world that is out to get you. The primitive world also seeks to destroy you at first available opportunity. Sometimes I think the slashdotters who never leave the basement are the enlightened ones...

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  2. wrong much? by ILuvRamen · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Paraonia is an opinion. If someone's laughing right behind you, it's 100% normal to wonder if it's about you. That's basic social interaction and everyone who's paying enough attention SHOULD be concerned. If you completely ignore it or assume it's not about you, you're a sociopath. The morons that ran these experiments probably started with the basis that nobody should be worried about anything ever unless they're being attacked by a tiger or something. Apparently they forgot that if I take one step towards a bird without even looking at it or intending to eat it, it flies away. It's not paranoia, it's normal.

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  3. Huh? by 0123456 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is Britain they're talking about. If you live in Britain today and you're not paranoid, you're crazy.

  4. Re:Sounds dangerous....but bogus by wwwrench · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems to me that it would be impossible to extrapolate this VR study to real life. I mean, you strap on virtual reality goggles, and are presented with a scene from riding the tube (subway). It's like a video game, so of course you think the characters in it are about to pull out an AK47 and start shooting at you. Plus you are doing it as part of some experiment. What are you told before you strap on the goggles?

    But in a an actual ride on the tube, you would be thinking about something else -- you wouldn't be watching all the people, trying to figure out what is going on, as you would during some VR lab test...

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  5. Appearances are meaningless by MisterSquid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't get cautious around most white people. Being a US academic I'm surrounded by them. They are my friends and colleagues. However, in every city I've lived in except Los Angeles, I have had whites yell "nigger" at me as they drive by in cars. In three places spanning a dozen years, drunken young white male students have challenged me to fight (tried to provoke an excuse to beat me); so far, I open my mouth, they see I'm intelligent, and they go away.

    These white men look like any thousands of white men I've seen all my life. Appearances count, in my case, for absolutely nothing.

    I wonder, how may times have you been accosted by a black, gangbanger lookalike or otherwise?

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  6. Re:Not all fear is paranoia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Saying "don't judge a book by its cover" toward people is irrational. Appearances are one of the most effective ways to gauge what sort of person you are dealing with."

    People dressed in thug clothing are making an effort to associate themselves with a culture of violence. Therefore, the way they look tells you something about their mindset and values.