Virtual Reality and Implicit Bias: Examining Racial Prejudice through the Representation of Black and White Asylum Seekers

Francesca Valeria Frisari; Ankica Kosic; Matteo Bonora; Corine Stella Kana Kenfack; Salvador Alvídrez

doi:10.1080/15562948.2026.2687134

Virtual Reality and Implicit Bias: Examining Racial Prejudice through the Representation of Black and White Asylum Seekers

Francesca Valeria Frisari
, Ankica Kosic
, Matteo Bonora
, Corine Stella Kana Kenfack
, Salvador Alvídrez

University of Rome La Sapienza

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The present study explores the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to addressimplicit racial prejudice by immersing participants in an asylum interviewscenario. A sample of 160 Italians, who embodied either a Burkinabé (Black)or a Ukrainian (White) asylum seeker, completed the Implicit AssociationTest before and after the VR experience. Results showed no significantchange in bias after embodying the Burkinabé avatar, but a significantincrease in racial prejudice after embodying the Ukrainian avatar. Findingssuggest that VR-based perspective-taking may, under certain conditions,reinforce intergroup biases, especially in contexts marked by symbolic hier-archies of deservingness, legitimacy, and racialized inclusion.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-16
Number of pages	16
Journal	Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies
Early online date	15 Jun 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2026.2687134
Publication status	Published online - 15 Jun 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated by the survey research during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the OSF repository at osf.io/e9gzj

Funding

This work was supported by Sapienza University of Rome [Call: Prot. n. 36805; Project proposal: 2807760].

Keywords

Virtual reality
implicit bias
racial prejudice
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
asylum seekers

Access to Document

10.1080/15562948.2026.2687134

Cite this

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AU - Bonora, Matteo

AU - Kana Kenfack, Corine Stella

AU - Alvídrez, Salvador

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Virtual Reality and Implicit Bias: Examining Racial Prejudice through the Representation of Black and White Asylum Seekers

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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