Journal
SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS
Volume 8, Issue 5, Pages 201-213Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12099
Keywords
-
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We review sociological, correlational, and experimental research that examines the effect of a target's race on the decision to shoot. Much of this work involves computer-based simulations of a police encounter, in which a participant must decide whether or not to shoot a potentially hostile target who is either Black or White. Experimental work with undergraduate participants reveals a clear pattern of bias (a tendency to shoot Black targets but not Whites), which is associated with stereotypes linking Blacks with the concept of danger. Subsequent work with police officers presents a more complex pattern. Although police are affected by target race in some respects, they generally do not show a biased pattern of shooting. We suggest that police performance depends on the exercise of cognitive control, which allows officers to overcome the influence of stereotypes, and we conclude with potential implications of this research for law enforcement.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available