Targets of discrimination: Effects of race on responses to weapons holders

Author: Greenwald, A. G. / Oakes, M. A. / Hoffman, H. G.
Publication: Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Topics: Criminology Ethnicity Gun Carrying Law Enforcement Social Science
Keywords: Race Weapon carrying simulated shooting
Bibliographic information +

The authors examined the effect of race on rapid decisions towards persons holding weapons acted out in 2 computer-simulated tasks. Participants in this experiment responded to simulated (a) criminals by simulating shooting), (b) fellow police officers indicating a safety signal, and (c) citizens by inaction. In the first task, Black males holding guns were police officers while White males holding guns were criminals, while the roles were reversed in the second task. Blacks or Whites holding harmless objects were citizens in both tasks. The authors found that two race effects led to Blacks being incorrectly shot at more than Whites: guns held by Blacks were less distinguishable from harmless objects while objects held by Blacks were generally more likely to be treated as guns.