Becoming Einstein in virtual reality may help reduce age bias at work

July 1, 2026

written by Sayan Tribedi

Imagine technology that could let you walk in someone else's shoes, changing not just your perspective, but your deepest, most automatic biases. For years, researchers have explored virtual reality's potential to foster empathy and reduce prejudice, but the question remained: Could it truly shift ingrained attitudes, such as ageism?

试想这样一种技术：它能让你切身换位思考，不仅改变你的看待事物的角度，更能扭转你内心根深蒂固、下意识的偏见。多年来，研究人员一直在探索虚拟现实培养共情、减少偏见的潜力，但始终存有一个疑问：它能否真正改变根深蒂固的观念，比如年龄歧视？

A new virtual reality experiment put this to the test, with surprising results. Young men who "became" Albert Einstein in a simulation emerged with significantly less hidden bias against older people and automatically linked old age to fewer negative traits. This finding hints that VR could become a radical new tool to fight age prejudice, though the trial also revealed some unexpected side effects that underscore the complexity of human perception. The work is published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

一项全新虚拟现实实验对此展开验证，得出了出人意料的结果。年轻男性在模拟程序中化身阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦后，对老年人的隐性偏见大幅降低，下意识不再将老年与负面特质绑定。该研究表明，虚拟现实有望成为对抗年龄歧视的全新突破性工具；不过实验也发现了一些意料之外的副作用，凸显人类认知感知的复杂性。该研究发表于《心理学前沿》期刊。

Virtual Einstein: Reality check

虚拟爱因斯坦：实验验证

Age discrimination is no abstract problem. In the U.S., an estimated 64% of workers age 50 and older say they have witnessed or experienced age bias on the job, estimated to cost roughly $63 billion a year in economic losses. Yet most anti-ageism training changes only what people say, not their gut reactions. VR offers a fresh approach.

年龄歧视并非抽象问题。在美国，约64%的50岁及以上职场人士表示，自己在职场目睹或遭遇过年龄偏见，这类歧视每年造成约630亿美元经济损失。但绝大多数反年龄歧视培训只能改变人们口头表达，无法改变本能的内心反应，而虚拟现实提供了全新解决思路。

In this study, 107 Israeli men, ages 20–30, were tested on their implicit age bias and then took a short VR session. Each man "became" one of four avatars in a neutral office scenario: Albert Einstein (a positive older icon), Hassan Nasrallah (a negative older figure), a generic older adult, or a generic young adult.

本研究招募107名20至30岁以色列男性，先测试他们的隐性年龄偏见，随后进行短时虚拟现实体验。所有人在中立办公室场景内分别化身四种虚拟形象：正面老年代表阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦、负面老年人物哈桑·纳斯鲁拉、普通老年人、普通年轻人。

After a few minutes in the virtual scenario, the researchers retook each person's bias test. The change was striking. Participants in the Einstein avatar became far more positive toward old age. As the paper reports, "Einstein's embodiment produced a significant medium-to-large reduction in implicit ageism" (effect size d≈0.65). The neutral older-avatar group saw a smaller but still significant benefit (d≈0.36), whereas playing an average young person made almost no difference.

在虚拟场景体验数分钟后，研究人员再次检测受试者的偏见水平，变化十分显著。化身爱因斯坦的受试者对老年群体的好感度大幅提升。论文写道：“化身爱因斯坦这一正面老年形象，能显著大幅降低隐性年龄歧视（效应量d≈0.65）。”化身普通老年人的组别改善幅度更小，但仍具备统计学意义（效应量d≈0.36）；而化身普通年轻人的受试者几乎没有任何改变。

The dark side of VR role-play

虚拟角色扮演的负面影响

What about the "bad guy" avatar? The team had expected that embodying Nasrallah would make ageism worse. Surprisingly, it did not: "Contrary to hypotheses, negative embodiment did not increase ageism," according to the paper. The Nasrallah group's bias score stayed about the same.

那化身负面人物会如何？研究团队原本推测，化身纳斯鲁拉会加剧年龄歧视，结果却截然相反。论文记载：“与假设相反，扮演负面老年形象并未加深年龄偏见。”该组受试者的偏见分值基本持平。

However, there was a catch. Those men reported feeling significantly lower self-esteem afterward (a medium drop) and even showed a slight increase in unrelated biases (for example, stronger gender–career stereotypes). In short, wearing the villainous avatar left participants rattled in other ways, even though it didn't raise their age bias.

但该实验组存在隐患：受试者体验后自尊水平明显下降（中等程度降幅），同时对其他无关群体的偏见轻微上升，例如加深性别与职业绑定的刻板印象。简言之，即便负面老年形象没有加重年龄歧视，也会在其他层面对受试者心理造成不良影响。

This distinction between automatic, unconscious reactions and deliberate, conscious attitudes proved crucial. None of the avatars changed what the men explicitly said about older workers; everyone's survey ratings of seniors stayed essentially the same. This fits a common pattern in prejudice research: Implicit shifts don't always surface in conscious answers, suggesting that VR might be tapping into deeper, more automatic cognitive processes.

区分下意识本能反应与主观刻意态度是本次研究的核心关键点。所有虚拟形象都没有改变受试者对老年员工的口头评价，问卷中对老年人的打分基本无变化。这符合偏见研究的普遍规律：隐性内心认知的改变，未必会体现在主观作答中，也说明虚拟现实能够作用于更深层、自动化的认知机制。

The team also ran a mock hiring test: After VR, each man evaluated a virtual 60-year-old job candidate. Those who had been Einstein, or even the neutral older avatar, were a bit more open to hiring the older applicant than those who embodied the young avatar, though the overall difference was small (not statistically significant). This suggests that while VR can influence underlying biases, translating those changes into overt behavioral shifts, especially in complex decision-making, might require more than a single session.

团队还开展模拟招聘测试：体验完虚拟现实后，每名受试者对一名60岁虚拟求职者进行评估。相比化身年轻人的受试者，化身爱因斯坦或普通老年人的受试者更愿意录用老年应聘者，但整体差距微弱，不具备统计学显著性。这表明，虚拟现实虽能改变底层偏见，但想要将认知转变落实为外在行为，尤其是复杂决策场景下的行为，仅靠单次体验远远不够。

Real-world impact: VR in the workplace?

现实应用：职场虚拟现实培训

This controlled experiment provides a proof of concept. As the authors conclude, the results "provide controlled evidence that embodiment in a positively valenced avatar can reduce implicit workplace ageism." In practice, one could design a brief VR exercise so that managers experience old age in a positive light. Importantly, even the plain older-adult avatar (no celebrity involved) produced some benefit, meaning trainers wouldn't necessarily need a famous face to see results.

这项对照实验验证了该方案的可行性。论文作者总结：“对照实验数据证实，化身正向虚拟老年形象，能够降低职场隐性年龄歧视。”实际应用中，可以设计短时虚拟现实课程，让管理者正面体验老年状态。重要的是，即便不用名人形象，仅普通老年虚拟形象也能起到改善作用，培训无需依赖知名人物素材。

Of course, there are limits. The volunteers were all young men in one country, and we don't know how long the bias drop lasts beyond the lab. More studies are needed—with women, different cultures, and follow-up tests days or weeks later—before we overhaul HR training. The authors also warn that very negative avatars might have unintended effects on mood, so such sessions should be carefully designed.

该研究存在局限性：受试者均为单一国家的年轻男性，实验未验证偏见改善效果的持续时长。若要全面革新人力资源培训，还需开展更多实验，纳入女性、不同文化人群，并在数天、数周后开展追踪复测。作者同时提醒，极端负面虚拟形象会带来难以预料的情绪副作用，相关体验课程需要严谨设计。

For now, however, the takeaway is intriguing: Walking in Einstein's shoes made these 20-somethings view seniors more positively. It shows how a few minutes in the right virtual skin can nudge hidden attitudes. As workforces age, even a brief VR empathy trip might start chipping away at stubborn age biases, one unbiased step at a time.

但本次研究的核心结论十分有价值：化身爱因斯坦的虚拟体验，让二十多岁的年轻人对老年人改观。短短几分钟合适的虚拟身份体验，就能潜移默化改变人们潜藏的偏见。随着职场人口老龄化，一场简短的虚拟现实共情体验，或许能逐步消解顽固的年龄歧视，一点点塑造无偏见的思维。

二、重点词汇/短语解析

1. walk in someone else's shoes 换位思考，设身处地体会他人处境

固定英文习语，本文指VR虚拟化身、沉浸式体验他人人生

2. ingrained biases 根深蒂固的偏见

ingrained adj. 根深蒂固的、难以改变的，形容长期形成的固有认知

3. ageism n. 年龄歧视

特指因年龄产生的偏见、区别对待，对应racism（种族歧视）

4. implicit bias 隐性偏见

潜意识、下意识存在的偏见，区别于explicit attitude显性主观态度

5. avatar n. 虚拟形象、化身

VR、元宇宙领域专用词，指用户在虚拟世界的人物形象

6. embodiment n. 化身、沉浸式身份代入

心理学/VR专业术语，指个体完全代入虚拟角色的心理状态

7. effect size 效应量

统计学指标，衡量实验干预带来的变化幅度大小

8. self-esteem n. 自尊、自我认同感

心理学核心词汇，负面虚拟形象会降低受试者自尊水平

9. proof of concept 概念验证

科研、产业通用短语，证明方案具备基础可行性

10. chip away at 逐步消解、慢慢削弱

动词短语，文中指一点点消除顽固的年龄偏见

三、阅读理解题（答案见页面底部）

1. Which avatar greatly reduced young men’s implicit age bias?

A. Generic young adult avatar

B. Albert Einstein positive elderly avatar

C. Negative elderly figure avatar

D. Ordinary adult female avatar

2. What side effect appeared in participants who embodied the negative older avatar?

A. Their age bias increased sharply

B. Their self-esteem dropped significantly

C. They refused to take follow-up tests

D. They held more positive views on seniors

3. Which statement about implicit and explicit attitudes is true?

A. VR changed people’s verbal evaluations of the elderly

B. Implicit cognitive changes can be fully shown in surveys

C. Virtual experience altered unconscious bias but not conscious spoken opinions

D. All avatars greatly improved people’s explicit attitudes

4. What limitation does this experiment have?

A. It only studied young men from one single country

B. It tested middle-aged and elderly participants only

C. It tracked the bias change for over half a year

D. It used no control group for comparison

5. What practical value does this VR technology have for companies?

A. It can completely eliminate all workplace prejudice in one session

B. It can be designed as short training courses to ease implicit age bias

C. It helps managers reject all senior job applicants automatically

D. It replaces all traditional human resource training permanently

Publication details

Ronit Elyoseph et al, Can avatar affective valence determine whether virtual reality embodiment reduces implicit workplace ageism?, Frontiers in Psychology (2026).

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1868756

答案：BBCAB

本文来自公众微信号：外语教研