Stress Training for Cops Brains Could Reduce Suspect Shooting

African-Americans have been trapped in the revolving door of oppression at the hands of
the United States of America since they were enslaved and brutalized at the hand of European
colonists. From historic injustices such as disenfranchisement and Jim Crow Laws to more
contemporary injustices such as academic achievement gaps and the prison-industrial complex,
Blacks have continued to be exploited by the very country their ancestors built. Recently, since
the 1980s, African-Americans have been disproportionally attacked and killed by law
enforcement compared to any other majority or minority group in the U.S. With the advance in
social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram, people are able to essentially watch
African-Americans get executed live. With the numbers continuing to rise as more AfricanAmericans are killed and recorded, people often have discuss the negative implications of these
killing such as desensitization and being normalized. However, there has been a recent increase
of research looking at ways to re-educate police officers to reduce suspect shootings.
In the article, Shoot or dont shoot: why police officers are more inclined to shoot when
they are anxious written in the peer-reviewed journal, Emotion, the researchers investigated the
effect of anxiety on police officers shooting decisions. Thirty-six (n = 36) police officers
participated and executed a low- and high anxiety video-based test that required them to shoot or
not shoot at rapidly appearing suspects that either had a gun and shot, or no gun and
surrendered. When performing under anxiety, police officers showed a response bias towards
shooting, implying that they accidentally shot more often at suspects that surrendered.
Furthermore, shot accuracy was lower under anxiety and officers responded faster when suspects
had a gun. Finally, since gaze behavior appeared to be unaffected by anxiety, it is concluded that

when they were anxious, officers were more inclined to respond on the basis of threat-related
inferences and expectations rather than objective, task-relevant visual information.
This data and article was also discussed in Scientific American which brings in other
reports to create a holistic perspective of police stress and how that influences them in shooting.
They article go into detail about the role of stress and how that allows for some reactive
behaviors. The article also includes research conducted at Yale University School of Medicine
(which bring data from different cultural backgrounds) and a second study which involves sixtysix officers who trained weekly on their own in a combat sport indicated that affected their
anxiety level. By bringing in different studies and articles, it adds to the external validity of the
study. The article also brings policies and more social aspect to the study that provide real-life
application to the scientific research. For example, the article discuss training that can emphasize
on practical, realistic skills that prepare officers to remain calm and in control when faced with
threat. The article then closed by the importance of the research and the necessity for the federal
government to put out requests for proposals and provide grants to develop curriculum at a
national level to better equip officials with tools to legally and righteously carry out successful
law practices.
Scientific American did an exceptional job in both honoring and portraying the study
correctly. It used the research conducted coupled with others studies and sources to provide a
depiction of the problem, causes and potential solutions to create a whole picture. It is most
important to inform the public of all the facts and allowing media outlets to be responsible by
being transparent. With the issues facing the African-American community at hand, it is

important to know there is research being conducted to better equip officers with the tactics to
truly protect and serve.