Psychological and Brain Sciences Colloquium

Valerie Jones Taylor, PhD, Rutgers

Please join us for a colloquium in Moore Filene Auditorium this week on Thursday, February 5, 2026, starting at 1:05 p.m., given by Valerie Jones Taylor, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Title:  Engaging for Equity: Leveraging Virtual Reality to Improve Race Relations Abstract:  While research has shown the benefits of interracial and intergroup contact, greater contact among individuals with different social identities creates opportunities for social identity threat—the concern or worry that one may be treated or judged negatively based on one’s social group membership. When such concerns and worries are high in interracial interactions, stereotyping and anxiety increase, and tensions often rise, along with avoidance, hatred, and even violence. However, given that the global landscape is simultaneously increasing in racial diversity and hostility investigating ways to motivate positive and open engagement in interracial interactions is imperative. In this talk, Dr. Taylor shares research examining the disruptions in interracial interactions in real and virtual worlds and discusses the possibility of leveraging clinical psychology models of exposure therapy and virtual reality (VR) technology to mitigate these challenges. Part I will map interracial interaction processes in VR and lay the groundwork for designing VR interventions to improve real-world interracial interactions. Integrating clinical psychology models of VR exposure therapy, Part II will theorize how VR technology can provide safe, flexible, and scalable repeated VR interracial contact experiences. Broadly defined, this hypothesis asserts that repeated VR interracial contact can provide people with opportunities for recurrent engagement in increasingly challenging interracial interactions, which can, over time, minimize people’s vigilance and negative emotions. Such VR practice stands to improve racial attitudes and interpersonal interracial outcomes in the real world. By integrating models of VR exposure therapy with models of stress and coping in interracial interactions, this research program aims to create theory-driven tech tools for practitioners across fields (e.g., psychology, education, healthcare, and business) to improve interracial competence and achieve the long-lasting mental health, interpersonal, and systemic benefits of positive interracial contact. Coffee, tea, and cider donuts will be available a few minutes before and after the talk in the foyer space outside of Moore Filene Auditorium.

Sponsored by: Psychological and Brain Sciences Department