The police officer's dilemma: Using ethnicity to disambiguate potentially threatening individuals.
Abstract
Using a simple videogame, the effect of ethnicity on shoot/don't shoot decisions was examined. African American or White targets, holding guns or other objects, appeared in complex backgrounds. Participants were told to "shoot" armed targets and to "not shoot" unarmed targets. In Study 1, White participants made the correct decision to shoot an armed target more quickly if the target was African American than if he was White, but decided to "not shoot" an unarmed target more quickly if he was White. Study 2 used a shorter time window, forcing this effect into error rates. Study 3 replicated Study 1's effects and showed that the magnitude of bias varied with perceptions of the cultural stereotype and with levels of contact, but not with personal racial prejudice. Study 4 revealed equivalent levels of bias among both African American and White participants in a community sample. Implications and potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The findings suggest a tendency towards a liberal criterion for initiating a threat-related response.
“This finding suggests a tendency towards a liberal criterion for initiating a threat‐related response (e.g., perceiving a trustworthy face as untrustworthy; Correll et al., 2002; Haselton & Buss, 2000)”
From Mistrust and negative self‐esteem: Two paths from attachment styles to paranoia. (2021) · cites this paper as Correll et al., 2002
Cites
Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.797 · Cited by 8,181 · see citing works
Stereotypes and prejudice: Their automatic and controlled components
Devine, P. G. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.1.5 · Cited by 5,673 · see citing works
Fazio, R. H., Jackson, J. R., Dunton, B. C., & Williams, C. J. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.6.1013 · Cited by 1,793 · cited 3× · see citing works
“However, it might be the case that the relationship between the cultural stereotype measure and personal prejudice depends on the participant’s level of motivation to control prejudice, again following the theoretical arguments of Fazio et al. (1995) .”
BackgroundInfluentialWittenbrink, B., Judd, C. M., & Park, B. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.262 · Cited by 821 · cited 1× · see citing works
“First, participants completed the Modern Racism Scale (MRS; McConahay, Hardee, & Batts, 1981), the Discrimination (DIS) and Diversity Scales (DIV) (both from Wittenbrink, Judd, & Park, 1997 ), all of which are designed to measure prejudice against African Americans, as well as the Motivation to Control Prejudiced Resp…”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Jost, J. T., Banaji, M. R., & Nosek, B. A. (2004) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00402.x · Cited by 2,883 · see citing works
Judd, C. M., Westfall, J., & Kenny, D. A. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0028347 · Cited by 1,236 · see citing works
Self-citationAge differences in affective decision making as indexed by performance on the Iowa gambling task
Cauffman, E., Shulman, E. P., Steinberg, L., Claus, E., Banich, M. T., Graham, S., & Woolard, J. (2010) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0016128 · Cited by 488 · see citing works
The Border Between Seeing and Thinking
Block, N. (2023) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780197622223.001.0001 · Cited by 367 · see citing works
Jost, J. T., Rudman, L. A., Blair, I. V., Carney, D. R., Dasgupta, N., Glaser, J., & Hardin, C. D. (2009) · Research in Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.riob.2009.10.001 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
A Bird's Eye View of Civilians Killed by Police in 2015: Further Evidence of Implicit Bias
Nix, J., Campbell, B. A., Byers, E. H., & Alpert, G. P. (2017) · Criminology & Public Policy · doi:10.1111/1745-9133.12269 · Cited by 336 · see citing works
Tyler, T. R., Goff, P. A., & MacCoun, R. J. (2015) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1177/1529100615617791 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
Cave, S., & Dihal, K. (2020) · Philosophy & Technology · doi:10.1007/s13347-020-00415-6 · Cited by 279 · see citing works
Lueke, A., & Gibson, B. (2015) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550614559651 · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Nieuwenhuys, A., & Oudejans, R. R. D. (2012) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-011-0384-x · Cited by 265 · see citing works
Multiple cues in social perception: The time course of processing race and facial expression
Kubota, J. T., & Ito, T. A. (2007) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2006.10.023 · Cited by 207 · see citing works
Miller, S. L., Maner, J. K., & Becker, D. V. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0018086 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Is the evidence from racial bias shooting task studies a smoking gun? Results from a meta-analysis
Mekawi, Y., & Bresin, K. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2015.08.002 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Toward a comprehensive understanding of executive cognitive function in implicit racial bias.
Ito, T. A., Friedman, N. P., Bartholow, B. D., Correll, J., Loersch, C., Altamirano, L. J., & Miyake, A. (2015) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038557 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Self-citationJust a Game? Unjustified Virtual Violence Produces Guilt in Empathetic Players
Hartmann, T., Toz, E., & Brandon, M. (2010) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1080/15213269.2010.524912 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Stereotype threat and racial differences in citizens’ experiences of police encounters.
Najdowski, C. J., Bottoms, B. L., & Goff, P. A. (2015) · Law and Human Behavior · doi:10.1037/lhb0000140 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
A social Bayesian brain: how social knowledge can shape visual perception
Otten, M., Seth, A. K., & Pinto, Y. (2017) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2016.05.002 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Stop, frisk, and assault? Racial disparities in police use of force during investigatory stops
Kramer, R., & Remster, B. (2018) · Law & Society Review · doi:10.1111/lasr.12366 · Cited by 137 · see citing works
Cardiac afferent activity modulates the expression of racial stereotypes
Azevedo, R. T., Garfinkel, S. N., Critchley, H. D., & Tsakiris, M. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms13854 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
Kahn, K. B., & Davies, P. G. (2011) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430210374609 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Perceiving the World Through Group-Colored Glasses: A Perceptual Model of Intergroup Relations
Xiao, Y. J., Coppin, G., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2016) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2016.1199221 · Cited by 121 · see citing works
The social neuroscience of intergroup relations
Amodio, D. M. (2008) · European Review of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/10463280801927937 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
There’s Nothing Social about Social Priming: Derailing the “Train Wreck”
Sherman, J. W., & Rivers, A. M. (2021) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/1047840x.2021.1889312 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Howell, J. L., Gaither, S. E., & Ratliff, K. A. (2015) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550614561127 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Gawronski, B., Peters, K. R., & LeBel, E. P. (2008) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00085.x · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Do Theories of Implicit Race Bias Change Moral Judgments?
Cameron, C. D., Payne, B. K., & Knobe, J. (2010) · Social Justice Research · doi:10.1007/s11211-010-0118-z · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Forgas, J. P. (2017) · Australian Psychologist · doi:10.1111/ap.12232 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
HARRIS, D. A. (2007) · Criminology & Public Policy · doi:10.1111/j.1745-9133.2007.00419.x · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Mistrust and negative self‐esteem: Two paths from attachment styles to paranoia.
Martinez, A. P., Agostini, M., Al‐Suhibani, A., & Bentall, R. P. (2021) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12314 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
“…suggests a tendency towards a liberal criterion for initiating a threat-related response (e.g., perceiving a trustworthy face as untrustworthy; Correll et al., 2002; Haselton & Buss, 2000) and is consistent with other evidence that people with high paranoia traits showan increased tendency to…”
ResultBody Cameras, Big Data, and Police Accountability
Fan, M. D. (2018) · Law & Social Inquiry · doi:10.1111/lsi.12354 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
A call to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems.
Najdowski, C. J., & Stevenson, M. C. (2022) · Law and Human Behavior · doi:10.1037/lhb0000510 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Scott, J., & Barlett, C. (2023) · Children · doi:10.3390/children10071156 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Rubien-Thomas, E., Berrian, N., Cervera, A., Nardos, B., Cohen, A. O., Lowrey, A., Daumeyer, N. M., Camp, N. P., Hughes, B. L., Eberhardt, J. L., et al. (2021) · Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-021-00896-8 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
The Impact of Affirmative Action Litigation on Police Killings of Civilians
Cox, R., Cunningham, J., & Ortega, A. (2024) · doi:10.3386/w32502 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Correll, J., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2002-12
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1314-1329
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2023898780
- Cited by
- 1,175
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 52 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 77 · 2023: 82 · 2022: 57 · 2021: 79 · 2020: 79 · 2019: 79 · 2018: 67 · 2017: 78 · 2016: 77 · 2015: 54 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 45
- FWCI
- 35.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- U.S. Public Health Service (R01-45049)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Keywords
- ethnicity, police decision-making, threat perception, cultural stereotypes, intergroup contact, racial prejudice, video game simulation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Dangerous Behavior, Decision Making, Ethnicity, Female, Firearms, Humans, Male, Prejudice, Reaction Time, Students, Police, Signal Detection, Psychological, Video Games
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
