Can Virtual Reality Best Assess Peer Exclusion Affecting Mood and Emotions within an Experimental Design?

Peer exclusion is a pervasive phenomenon that can lead to negative mood states in affected individuals. To model peer exclusion experimentally, the Cyberball paradigm has been widely used. However, the effectiveness of this paradigm may vary depending on the presentation format. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the Cyberball paradigm in a virtual reality (VR) environment and compare it to the traditional 2D version. Specifically, we aim to determine which paradigm is more effective in experimentally manipulating peer exclusion. To achieve this objective, we will recruit 150 children and adolescents aged 8-16 years. Participants will complete a background questionnaire, which will collect data on their social support, rejection experiences, and demographic variables. They will then be exposed to two peer exclusion situations, one in 2D and one in VR, in random order. After each situation, participants will be asked to report on their mood, satisfaction, and frustration with their basic psychological needs and immersion. We expect that both experimental situations will result in a decline in participants' negative mood on average. However, we hypothesize that the VR paradigm will be more effective in inducing negative mood states than the 2D situation. By exploring the differential effectiveness of the Cyberball paradigm in different presentation formats, this study will contribute to the existing literature on peer exclusion and pave the way for future research on the use of VR in this domain.