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In light of the recent rise of virtuality, this thought-provoking book seeks to improve awareness in a climate of general confusion. Gerald Cupchik and Andrea Carraro survey a landscape of increasing digital distance to argue for a return of human agency over machines.

Cupchik and Carraro explore how humans have always used the virtual to convey thoughts, invoke the presence of something that does not exist, or bring order to an otherwise incomprehensible world. The authors analyse why meeting in person seems to have become a waste of time and energy, why knowing how to smell and touch has become increasingly marginal, and why perpetually distal relationships have regressed the abilities that anchor humans to reality. Adopting a constructivist approach, the book centralises the human perspective and proposes a guiding principle: that behind every tool there must be a hand, and never vice versa.

Emotion and Virtual Reality is a vital resource for scholars and students of psychology, anthropology, innovation and technology, as well as disruptive technologies. Regulators in the field and cyberpsychologists will also benefit from its conceptual lens and novel ethical framework.