RT Article
T1 Racial Essentialism and Stress: A Deadly Combination for Prospective Police Officers’ Encounters with Black Suspects
JF Race and social problems
VO 15
IS 2
SP 127
OP 139
A1 Tawa, John
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1843762587
AB Previous research based on documented incidents of police uses of lethal force and experimental studies using computer sorting programs have demonstrated that incorrect lethal force decisions tend to occur more frequently with Black relative to White suspects. Using virtual reality, the current study examined the psychophysiology underlying incorrect lethal force decision with Black suspects, and the interactive impact of racial essentialism. Forty-nine White criminal justice majors viewed 360 degree videos of high-pressure suspect interactions in VR, from the perspective of the police officer. A virtual police-issued handgun was used to make and record decisions to shoot; incorrect uses of lethal force were operationalized using signal detection theory. Physiological stress (i.e., variance in pupil dilation) and visual attention were measured with embedded eye tracking in the VR. As predicted, physiological stress led to more incorrect uses of lethal force with Black suspects through fixated visual attention, but only among those who scored high on a racial essentialism survey measure. Findings converge with more recent studies supporting the potent interactive role between cognition (e.g., racial essentialism) and affect (i.e., stress) on lethal force decisions with Black suspects. These studies point to the continued role of psychoeducation and cognitive–behavioral interventions in informing police training interventions aimed at mitigating incorrect uses of lethal force with Black men and women.
K1 Physiological stress
K1 Cognitive–behavioral therapy
K1 Visual attention
K1 Decision-making
K1 Lethal force
K1 Black/African American
DO 10.1007/s12552-022-09356-5