Cognitive processes behind the shooter bias: Dissecting response bias, motor preparation and information accumulation

Abstract

A rich body of research points to racial biases in so-called police officer dilemma tasks: participants are generally faster and less error-prone to "shoot" (vs. not "shoot") Black (vs. White) targets. In three experimental (and two supplemental) studies (total N = 914), we aimed at examining the cognitive processes underlying these findings under fully standardized conditions. To be able to dissect a-priori decision bias, biased information processing and motor preparation, we rendered video sequences of virtual avatars that differed in nothing but the tone of their skin. Modeling the data via drift diffusion models revealed that the threat of a social group can be explicitly learned and mapped accordingly on an a-priori response bias within the model (Study 1). Studies 2 and 3 replicated the racial shooter bias as apparent in faster reaction times in stereotype-consistent trials. This, however, appears to result from stereotype-consistent motoric preparations and execution readiness, but not from pre-judicial threat biases. The results have implications especially for automatic stereotypes in the public.

People perception and stereotype-based responding: task context matters

“…Of additional interest, using a different methodology to investigate stereotype-based responding—notably, the shooter task (Correll et al, 2002 )—Frenken et al ( 2022 ) recently traced the origin of stereotype bias to differences in non-decisional processes, specifically motoric preparation (i.e., primes pre-activate stereotype-consistent motor responses, thus enhance execution readiness). Accordingly, in both the gender-classification and stereotype-status task, here we also considered the possibility that task performance may be underpinned by differences in non-decisional processing operations (Voss et al, 2013a , 2013b ).…”

Revisiting the role of attention in the “weapon focus effect”: Do weapons draw gaze away from the perpetrator under naturalistic viewing conditions?

“…It is therefore unclear how well the findings by Pickel and Sneyd ( 2018 ), obtained from a Midwestern U.S. population, generalize to other cultures. Recent results by Frenken et al ( 2022 ) suggest that similar racial stereotypes exist in Germany. Frenken et al ( 2022 ) used a computer-based first-person shooter task (Correll et al, 2002 ) for which several U.S. studies have found that participants are quicker to “shoot” armed Black actors compared with White ones and slower to indicate a “don’t shoot” response for unarmed Black actors (Mekawi & Bresin, 2015 ).…”

“…Frenken et al ( 2022 ) used a computer-based first-person shooter task (Correll et al, 2002 ) for which several U.S. studies have found that participants are quicker to “shoot” armed Black actors compared with White ones and slower to indicate a “don’t shoot” response for unarmed Black actors (Mekawi & Bresin, 2015 ). Frenken et al ( 2022 ) found that this racial bias generalizes to German participants.…”