Contextualized morality in digital age: The role of reality and group membership contexts in adolescents’ prosocial bystander judgments and responses

Virtual reality technologies are becoming more common, and they are becoming a part of children's and adolescents' daily lives. This study aimed to understand how different virtual reality and group membership contexts might shape prosocial bystander responses to bullying. The data was collected from 388 14- to 17-year-old high school students ( M = 15.52, SD = .98, 155 boys). In the ingroup scenarios, participants read about a bullying situation where an ingroup member was excluded and teased for being perceived as boring, either in a real-life or virtual reality (VR) setting. In outgroup scenarios, participants read about the same bullying situation involving an outgroup member being excluded and teased for being a foreigner, again in either real-life or VR contexts. Adolescents showed more prosocial bystander judgments, responses, and a greater likelihood of future helping behavior in VR compared to real-life contexts. The results also revealed that group membership dynamics were perceived differently in VR and real-life situations. Specifically, adolescents exhibited more prosocial behavior towards outgroup members than ingroup members only in VR environments. Furthermore, adolescents were more likely to show prosocial behavior when the bullying was repetitive. Socio-cognitive factors such as theory of mind (ToM) and empathy, along with contextual factors like dehumanization, were key predictors of bystander responses. The findings highlight the importance of understanding how group membership and reality contexts interact, suggesting that technology-based methods offer valuable insights promoting prosocial bystander responses. • Adolescents showed more prosocial bystander responses in VR than real-life contexts. • Group membership dynamics were perceived differently in VR and real-life situations. • Adolescents showed more prosocial behavior when the bullying was repetitive. • Theory of mind, empathy and dehumanization were key predictors of bystander responses. • VR technologies are important tools promote prosocial moral behaviors and judgments.