You're Hired! Effect of Virtual Agents' Social Status and Social Attitudes on Stress Induction in Virtual Job Interviews

Celia Kessassi, Cédric Dumas, Caroline G. L. Cao, Mathieu Chollet

Abstract: Virtual reality offers new possibilities for social skills training. In fact, with virtual reality, it is possible to get immersed and train to various social situations, including job interviews. In this paper, we investigate the effect of virtual recruiters' social status and social attitudes on participants' stress during a job interview. Results show that negative recruiter attitudes led to higher subjective stress compared to neutral attitudes, and that participants with high social anxiety react differently to positive feedback compared to participants with low social anxiety. The mechanisms of social stress induction in virtual reality are complex and deserve further study.