Close relationships are irreplaceable social resources, yet prone to high-risk conflict. Building on findings from the fields of HCI, virtual reality, and behavioral therapy, we evaluate the unexplored potential of retrospective VR-embodied perspective-taking to fundamentally influence conflict resolution in close others. We develop a biographically-accurate Retrospective Embodied Perspective-Taking system (REPT) and conduct a mixed-methods evaluation of its influence on close others' reflection and communication, compared to video-based reflection methods currently used in therapy (treatment as usual, or TAU). Our key findings provide evidence that REPT was able to significantly improve communication skills and positive sentiment of both partners during conflict, over TAU. The qualitative data also indicated that REPT surpassed basic perspective-taking by exclusively stimulating users to embody and reflect on both their own and their partner's experiences at the same level. In light of these findings, we provide implications and an agenda for social embodiment in HCI design: conceptualizing the use of `embodied social cognition,' and envisioning socially-embodied experiences as an interactive context.

翻译：亲密关系是不可替代的社会资源，却易于引发高风险冲突。基于人机交互、虚拟现实和行为疗法领域的研究成果，我们评估了回顾性VR具身视角采择对根本性影响亲密他人冲突解决的未探索潜力。我们开发了具有传记准确性的回顾性具身视角采择系统（REPT），并通过混合方法评估其对亲密他人反思与沟通的影响，与当前疗法中使用的视频反思方法（常规治疗，TAU）进行对比。关键证据表明，与TAU相比，REPT能显著改善冲突双方在沟通技巧和积极情感方面的表现。定性数据还显示，REPT超越了基础视角采择，通过独特机制刺激用户以同等深度具身体验并反思自身与伴侣的经历。基于这些发现，我们为人机交互设计中的社会具身提出启示与议程：将“具身社会认知”概念化，并将社会具身体验构想为交互情境。