When the response does not match the threat: The relationship between threat assessment and behavioural response in ambiguous lethal force decision-making

Abstract

Deciding when to use lethal force inherently depends on assessing threat, a process that itself incorporates numerous perceptual factors. The current study assessed the relationship between the subjective perception of a threat and a binary behavioral response to a threat (e.g., shoot/don’t-shoot or go/no-go). For images of human actors, combined posture and weapon presence impacted threat perception and significantly influenced the likelihood of behavioral threat response. Interestingly, for ambiguous threat stimuli, perceived threat became an increasingly poor predictor of the decision to use lethal force. Specifically, while ambiguous stimuli were often rated as equally threatening across participants, these threat ratings held a fraction of their explanatory power compared to the omnibus test. These results demonstrate an intriguing disparity between subjective threat perception and the behavioral response to use force that does not apply well to ambiguous cases or adequately explain errors in lethal force decisions.

The role of inhibitory control in shoot/don’t-shoot decisions

“…These factors implicate individual differences rather than elements of the scenario, which can impact performance, given that priming can impact the decision to shoot (Taylor, 2020) and different individuals may not make similar responses when presented with an ambiguous threat (Biggs, Pettijohn, & Gardony, 2021). The combination of scenario-based factors, anxiety, and variable rules of engagement create a rich potential for future research to extend the findings presented here.…”

Applying inhibitory control theories to shoot/don't‐shoot decisions

“…An officer could be primed to perceive elements of a situation in advance, thereby elevating the perceived threat and selecting a course of action disproportionate to the actual threat level. Additionally, an ambiguous threat could lead to different behavioral responses even from similar subjective threat assessments (Biggs, Pettijohn, & Gardony, 2021) More assumptions could be identified as this list is not intended to be exhaustive. Each assumption is critical to clarifying the role of inhibitory control for the specific reasons of setting boundaries when discussing task design given that the task itself can alter what is being measured.…”

“…An officer could be primed to perceive elements of a situation in advance, thereby elevating the perceived threat and selecting a course of action disproportionate to the actual threat level. Additionally, an ambiguous threat could lead to different behavioral responses even from similar subjective threat assessments (Biggs, Pettijohn, & Gardony, 2021). Two individuals may see someone standing with one hand behind the back and rate the relative threat similarly, yet one individual might decide to fire whereas the other individual does not.…”

Centering the relationship between structural racism and individual bias

“…One phenomenal missing contingencies argument involves the reliance upon misidentifying harmless objects as a crux of firstperson shooter tasks. There are other ways to explore errors in lethal force decisions by intentionally introducing ambiguity into the task (Biggs, Pettijohn, & Gardony, 2021), which shooting paradigms could exploit.…”