The influence of race on weapon identification: cognitive processes underlying the weapon identification task

Laukenmann, Ruben

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URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-671972
Dokumenttyp:	Dissertation
Erscheinungsjahr:	2023
Ort der Veröffentlichung:	Mannheim
Hochschule:	University of Mannheim
Gutachter:	Erdfelder, Edgar
Datum der mündl. Prüfung:	15 Dezember 2023
Sprache der Veröffentlichung:	Englisch
Einrichtung:	Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften > Kognitive Psychologie (Seniorprofessur) (Erdfelder 2019-)
Fachgebiet:	150 Psychologie
Freie Schlagwörter (Englisch):	weapon identification , racial bias , social cognition , process dissociation procedure , multinomial processing tree modeling
Abstract:	Non-threatening objects are more often misidentified as weapons when people are presented beforehand with Black compared to White male faces. This effect of race on object identification is well-established and has been reliably replicated using the Weapon Identification Task (WIT). The WIT is a sequential priming paradigm which instructs participants to identify target objects (i.e., guns vs. tools) after the presentation of face primes varying by race (i.e., Black vs. White males). However, the cognitive processes and mechanisms leading to weapon identification bias have been a matter of debate. To further elucidate how this racially biased behavior is generated, this dissertation examines in three original research articles, respectively, the mechanisms leading to racial bias, the interplay of automatic and controlled processes in weapon identification, and the correspondence of different task procedures used to assess this effect. Manuscript 1 revealed that racial bias is mainly driven by response bias varying by race, meaning a stronger tendency to respond with "gun" after Black compared to White male faces. However, if participants engage in racial profiling, target discrimination is additionally biased by race. Manuscript 2 compared different process models which differ in their assumptions about the nature and temporal interplay of automatic and controlled processes in task performance. The Default Interventionist Model (DIM) emerged as the preferred model. The DIM posits an automatic initial default response which then may or may not be overcome by subsequent target discrimination and conflict resolution processes. Manuscript 3 investigated the correspondence of three implicit measures configured to assess the association of Black males with guns: the WIT, the First-Person Shooter Task (FPST), and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). All three measures were able to assess racial bias. The WIT and FPST displayed overall moderate correspondence in racial bias estimates indicating similarity in assessed construct and task procedure. In contrast, the IAT displayed mixed correspondence with the other two measures. The latter result may be explained by procedural specificities of the IAT such as race category salience and dual-categorization. Taken together, the findings of the three manuscripts help to get a better understanding of the complex interplay of cognitive mechanisms and processes leading to racial bias in weapon identification.