Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality in The Psychology Field

    Technology has come a long way since it was first developed. From staring at bulky, slow computers to high tech, immersive experiences such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)! Sometimes VR allows you to dive into a whole different world without physically leaving the one you're in now, and other times it allows you explore the very world we live in right now... from different perspectives. 

    This is a great advancement for many fields. When people think about VR they often think about the Oculus, which is quite pricey and not as accessible to the general public. However, the technology for VR does not always have to be expensive. For example, with Google Cardboard, one could place their phone screen into the affordable device to experience VR. In Houston, Google Cardboard has given children the opportunity to tour different hospitals before being physically going there, which gives them a sense of comfort. This is just one example of how useful VR can be to many different fields. 

    In today's blog post, I would like to discuss how this technology can benefit those in the psychology field. For example, VR can actually allow others to experience some traits of autism, allowing users to gain better insight on the developmental disorder. This is important as understanding different perspectives from such a close & different point of view not only benefits researchers, but also therapists in developing their practices and parents in taking care of their autistic children. This is a breakthrough as we are now able to see things from a new perspective. In the future, this technology could also go further into developing VR experiences for other different psychological disorders.

    Moving forward, one of the hardest things about being in the Psychology field is getting the experience you need to carry out the job. Working with people, their brains and their behaviors is something that is not taken lightly. It isn't like the medical field where we can practice on dolls, but VR might be able to fix this issue. VR and AR could train the next generation of psychologists. If creators could come up with a way to work with practice patients through VR, this could help undergraduate students gain some experience before entering the workforce. I'm excited to see VR develop and how it can help the psychology field.