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Changing Bodies Changes Minds-and Behavior? An Economists Guide to Embodiment Interventions

Author

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  • Nina Rapoport

    (Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE, Marseille, France)

Abstract

This review examines how virtual embodiment interventions can inform economic research on inequality across social groups. These interventions, widely used in psychology and related disciplines, consist of using virtual reality to embody individuals in virtual bodies whose appearance can be experimentally manipulated. By varying key characteristics such as skin-tone, gender, or age, researchers caninduce the illusion of inhabiting the body of an outgroup member. I synthesize existing research on outgroup embodiment and provide both a practical guide to designing embodiment interventions and a critical assessment of the methodological trade-offs involved in their implementation. In addition, I discuss how combining embodimentinterventions with tools from experimental economics can serve two purposes: first, to advance research on social inequality by introducing new methods to study its socio-cognitive foundations; and second, to address open questions in the embodiment literature by testing whether “changing bodies” can change not only minds but also behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Rapoport, 2026. "Changing Bodies Changes Minds-and Behavior? An Economists Guide to Embodiment Interventions," AMSE Working Papers 2603, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2603
    Note: Working paper AMSE 2026-03
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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