Work

Pulling away from the trigger: the influences of purpose in life and self-affirmation on decisions to shoot

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Recent data suggests significant racial disparities in police killings in the United States: Much research finds that Black men are killed by police officers at higher rates than White men, and many individuals killed by police have been unarmed. Method: Toward addressing psychological mechanisms at play in these complicated decision contexts, the current study tested the effectiveness of two writing tasks at reducing the unjustified shooting of unarmed targets using a virtual shooting-decision platform. Participants wrote either about their sense of purpose, self-affirming values, or a control topic and then played a first-person shooter video game, which randomly presented pictures of Black and White armed and unarmed targets. Participants were instructed not to shoot unarmed targets and to shoot armed targets. Results: Results indicated that relative to controls, writing about either purpose or self-affirming values reduced the probability of shooting unarmed targets, without negatively impacting shooting decision reaction time.

Source: Frontiers in Cognition

DOI: 10.3389/fcogn.2024.1397643

Authors: Kayla A. Burd, Anthony L. Burrow, Max Guyll

Institutions: University of Wyoming, Cornell University, Arizona State University

Language: English

Topic: Social and Intergroup Psychology

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,125