Abstract
In this chapter, we provide an introduction to implicit forms of prejudice. We begin by defining prejudice and its related constructs, stereotypes, and discrimination. Next, we offer an overview of contemporary attitude models and their explanation for how attitudes in general and prejudiced attitudes in particular influence judgment and behavior. The models contrast implicit influences – where prejudiced attitudes bias judgments and behavior without intent – from any explicit use of attitudes. Implicit influences may occur when people have limited motivation to deliberate their decisions or when people’s opportunities for deliberation are curtailed. Hence, even in cases where people want to be fair and unbiased, they may end up with bigoted judgments and discriminatory behavior. We next report on a research project that applies these theoretical insights to a consequential real-world problem, the influence of race on police officers’ use of lethal force. We offer a detailed description of the First-Person-Shooter Task (FPST), the research paradigm developed to study the issue, and report the project’s main findings. We conclude with a critical evaluation of how FPST findings might inform law enforcement policies and practices.
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Notes
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Based on estimates by the British newspaper The Guardian which published a database for the years 2015 and 2016 of all cases of police-involved shooting deaths recorded in police records and/or public sources (The Guardian, 2016)
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Report of the German Interior Ministry Conference (Innenministerkonferenz)
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Wittenbrink, B., Correll, J., Ma, D.S. (2019). Implicit Prejudice. In: Sassenberg, K., Vliek, M.L.W. (eds) Social Psychology in Action. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13788-5_11
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