虛擬實境中同理心及憂鬱情緒之互動藝術創作論述

Abstract

本研究有感於人們在面對他人的憂鬱情緒時，因為缺乏同理心概念，時常相對無法同理與傾聽 (Burnette et al., 2009)，或者給予過度正向的鼓勵，甚至責怪憂鬱者不應該繼續維持負面情緒，而使得憂鬱情緒者感到自己與社會規範及期待格格不入。同理心是深化以及維繫人際關係中的一個重要特質，本研究受諮商心理治療啟發，並爬梳先前VR如何提升同理心的研究案例，透過數位互動藝術的方式，讓一般大眾能藉由本創作中的場景及互動技術，藉由換位思考感同身受，真實的感受到同理心的存在。\n\n透過人機互動的模式，人可以透過科技作為媒介，將意念鋪陳至敘事或功能之間，體驗者可以藉由層層的靠近概念核心，最後自我解開設計者想要訴說的意涵。本研究設計出虛實整合的虛擬實境 VR端以及場景端的創作，透過VR敘事設計的兩大部分，裝置互動、VR沈浸式電影，帶領體驗者從憂鬱情緒的陪伴者，轉到憂鬱情緒者自身的視角及內心狀態，在其中並加入了語音辨識回饋部分，讓體驗者可以在第一部分用自己的聲音「說」出選項，在第三部分聽到自己說的話，使體驗者感受到原來自己平日對他人說話的感覺。在體驗結束的時候，也搭配實體的紙條回饋，讓體驗者可以將虛擬裝置中堆疊的情緒延伸到實際現實世界中。\n\n本研究將分為五大部分，第一部分為緒論，將簡述本創作之背景，以及創作動機，第二部分為文獻探討，將從同理心的定義敘述起，並簡述同理心的三大概念，分別為情感同理、認知同理，以及行為同理。在簡述同理心三大概念之後，提出在本作品中所採取的同理心概念核心，以及採取的原因。在本章的小節中，將會提出同理心體驗方面的研究以往遇到哪些障礙，以及提出使用VR協助本研究跨越過去之研究障礙的的可能性，並舉出VR如何使用在心理治療以及心理議題上面的研究，以及VR如何啟發人們產生同理心的研究實例，並簡述本研究與其他VR應用於憂鬱情緒的現行研究之異同，並透過互動藝術創作之概述以及評估方式，作為本研究之創作手法以及資料收集依據。第三部分為創作計畫，包含創作理念、創作形式、創作內容，與創作技術及展場規劃。第四部分為體驗者反饋以及討論，本章為純質化內容分析，將體驗者訪談的內容收斂並精萃成七大重點闡述之，整體而言，體驗者在經歷整個VR作品過程後，對作品的沈浸感、敘事內容、個人的反思、學習，甚至對憂鬱情緒者的覺察及領悟，都有相當多的正面回饋。最後，第五部分將總結本創作之未來展望，研究限制，以及提供後續研究可以應用以及前進的方向。\n\n本研究不僅成功達成研究者的期望，並且也證明了VR創作媒介對於倡議同理心概念的確有相當大的助益。希冀本研究可以幫助社會上的個人能更了解同理心的本質，並且促進個人能進一步具備同理心。進而讓身心穩定者，可以成為憂鬱情緒者的傾訴的安全基地，也讓憂鬱情緒者，能夠不畏眼光的勇敢吐露自己的情緒，撕去社會對憂鬱傾向的負面標籤。

Comforting and listening to those who suffer from depression is impossible without the capability to empathize. (Burnette et al., 2009). We often offer excessive encouragement or blame the depressed, making them feel more negative and rejected. Empathy is a vital feature in deepening and maintaining interpersonal relationships. Inspired by counseling psychology, this work reviewed previous research on how Virtual Reality (VR) can enhance empathy. Through interactive art, this work attempts to elicit empathy of the general audience through reenacting and interacting with a case scenario.\n\nThrough the model of human-computer interaction, people can use technology as a medium to spread ideas with narratives or utilities. Through experiencing the audience approach the core concept layer by layer, and finally unravel the intent. This work designed the scenes in VR, integrating the virtual and the reality. Composed of two parts, interactive storytelling and immersive movies, the VR narrative guide the audience to transition their experience from a companion of melancholy emotion to that of a melancholic person. Speech-recognition feedback is added to let the audience use his/her voice to "speak" as a companion in the first part and to “listen” and receive as a person with depression in the second part. Through this process, the audience gains a deep realization of how he/she interacts with others with depression. The insight is further extended with a paper note as physical feedback, carrying the emotions accumulated in the virtual world back to the actual world.\n\nThis thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter briefly describes the background and motivation of the work. The second chapter reviews related literature, starting from the definition of empathy. After briefly describing the three aspects of empathy: the emotional, the cognitive empathy, and the behavioral, this chapter discusses the obstacles to researching empathy experience in the past, as well as the possibility of using VR to overcome these obstacles. Although VR had been applied in psychotherapy, VR also inspires empathy in people, as described in this chapter. We further compare the application of VR to studying depression, and how this work will use interactive art to research this subject. The third part is the creation plan, including discussions of concept, form, creation content, technology, and exhibition venue planning. The fourth part is a content analysis of experience feedback and discussion, summarizing the post-experience interviews into seven key findings. Finally, the fifth part summarizes the prospects of this work and its limitations, providing suggestions for subsequent research.\n\nThis work demonstrates the utility of VR as a creative medium to help to advocate the value of empathy. We hope that this work will help society to better understand nature and importance of empathy. In turn, people who are physically and mentally stable can become supporters for those who are depressed, and the latter can bravely confide their emotions without fear.