Affect, emotions, and crime decision-making: emerging insights from immersive 360° video experiments

Abstract

Objectives This study investigates the effectiveness of immersive 360° video technology in evoking and manipulating two emotions, anger, and sexual arousal, relevant to criminal decision-making. Additionally, we provide a focused review of emotions in decision-making research in criminology, offering a comprehensive foundation for our study. Methods We conducted immersive 360° video experiments emulating real-world situations (n = 101). We measured self-reported emotions before and after exposure to the virtual scenarios, considering both between- and within-person effects. Results The scenarios effectively elicited the criminogenic emotions in the controlled virtual environments. Conclusions Immersive technologies, such as 360° video and virtual reality, can serve as a bridge between laboratory-based investigations and real-world criminogenic situations, offering an ecologically effective tool for exploring the intricate relationship between state affect and decision-making processes.