The basis of shooter biases: beyond cultural stereotypes.
White police officers and undergraduate students mistakenly shoot unarmed Black suspects more than White suspects on computerized shoot/don't shoot tasks. This bias is typically attributed to cultural stereotypes of Black men. Yet, previous research has not examined whether such biases emerge even in the absence of cultural stereotypes. The current research investigates whether individual differences in chronic beliefs about interpersonal threat interact with target group membership to elicit shooter biases, even when group membership is unrelated to race or cultural stereotypes about danger. Across two studies, participants with strong beliefs about interpersonal threats were more likely to mistakenly shoot outgroup members than ingroup members; this was observed for unfamiliar, arbitrarily formed groups using a minimal group paradigm (Study 1) and racial groups not culturally stereotyped as dangerous (Asians; Study 2). Implications for the roles of both group membership and cultural stereotypes in shaping decisions to shoot are discussed.
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. saul.miller@uky.edu
Saul L
SL
Miller
Kate
K
Zielaskowski
E Ashby
EA
Plant
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology; D003469:Culture; D003657:Decision Making; D005389:Firearms; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D016495:Police; D011287:Prejudice; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult