White Fear, Dehumanization, and Low Empathy: Lethal Combinations for Shooting Biases

Yara Mekawi, Konrad Bresin, Carla D. Hunter

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objectives: A growing number of studies have documented the existence racial shooting biases againstBlack versus White targets (Correll et al., 2002). Little is known about individual differences that maymoderate these biases. The goals of this study were to examine (a) whether White participants' fear ofracial/ethnic minorities is associated with racial shooing biases, and (b) whether dehumanization andempathy moderate this effect. Method: Participants (N ± 290) completed a dehumanization implicitassociation test and simulated shooting task, then reported their fear of racial minorities (i.e., White fear)and empathic ability. Results: We found that (a) individuals high in White fear showed a shooting bias,such that they had a lower threshold for shooting Black relative to White and East Asian targets, (b)Dehumanization moderated the White fear and shooting bias relation, such that individuals high in Whitefear and high in dehumanization had a significantly more liberal shooting threshold for Black versusWhite targets, and (c) Empathy moderated the White fear and shooting bias relation, such that people whowere high in White fear and low in empathic ability had a more liberal shooting threshold for Blackversus White targets. In sum, fearing racial/ethnic minorities can have devastating shooting biasoutcomes for Black individuals, but this effect is stronger when people also dehumanize Black individuals,and weaker when people have high empathy. Conclusions: These findings contribute to theliterature by identifying theory driven moderators that identify both risk and protective factors inpredicting racial shooting biases.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)322-332
Number of pages11
JournalCultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology
Volume22
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2016

Keywords

  • Dehumanization
  • Empathy
  • Shooting biases
  • Shooting task
  • White fear

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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