Criminal justice expert analyzes officer-involved shootings | WHAS11.com: "Nix said it's unclear if those deaths resulted from blatant profiling, but thinks something called implicit bias theory may play a role.
“It suggests that our brain uses mental shortcuts to process information, and there’s been experimental research that’s shown subjects are quicker to misidentify an object as a gun when they’ve primed with a black face,” Nix said.
Nix said the theory can affect everyone, but especially officers who are faced with crime all of the time.
“There are these underlying conditions that influence the way we look at the world and we see, especially police officers who deal with crime on a daily basis, and when they become conditioned to view certain suspects differently, it might be affecting their decision-making and their behavior without them even being aware of it,” Nix said."
“It suggests that our brain uses mental shortcuts to process information, and there’s been experimental research that’s shown subjects are quicker to misidentify an object as a gun when they’ve primed with a black face,” Nix said.
Nix said the theory can affect everyone, but especially officers who are faced with crime all of the time.
“There are these underlying conditions that influence the way we look at the world and we see, especially police officers who deal with crime on a daily basis, and when they become conditioned to view certain suspects differently, it might be affecting their decision-making and their behavior without them even being aware of it,” Nix said."
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