Question

Correll and colleagues (2002) designed a video game in which participants played the role of police officers and decided whether or not to "shoot" a target person who appeared on their computer screen. The participants' reaction times indicated that they were _____.

Answer 1

Answer: The correct answer is: "Correll and colleagues (2002) designed a video game in which participants played the role of police officers and decided whether or not to "shoot" a target person who appeared on their computer screen. The participants' reaction times indicated that they were faster to decide to shoot armed black targets first than white ones, and they hesitated when they had to decide not to shoot unarmed black targets."

Explanation:

This could have happened due to the prejudice that is related to the black color. For many people the black color represents negative situations, sadness, death, darkness, bad people. For that reason, when the participants saw the unarmed black targets they hesitated about shooting or not because they thought they should shoot them anyway (because of their color) and ignore the fact if they were armed or not.

Answer 2

Answer:

The participants' reaction times indicated that they were faster to decide to shoot armed black than white targets and slower to decide to not shoot unarmed black than white targets.

Explanation:

Correll et. al. state in their study that "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. 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."

Reference: Correll, Joshua, et al. “The Police Officer's Dilemma: Using Ethnicity to Disambiguate Potentially Threatening Individuals.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2002