Gun-wielding bias embodiment effect under stress, The

Abstract

Recent work has shown that the embodiment of a gun may be to blame in circumstances wherein an individual has misidentified a gun as a neutral object, such as the high-profile police shooting of Amidou Diallo. However, these embodiment effects have not been studied under stress, results of which could speak to not only applied concerns, but the nature of embodiment as well. In order to start developing an understanding as to whether embodiment is flexible, or unchanging, I utilized the Cold Pressor Task to induce stress into a paradigm published by Witt and Brockmole (2012). Results indicated that there was no difference between stress and non-stress conditions. However, my control condition (non-stress) failed to replicate the main effect previously reported, therefore prohibiting me from drawing conclusions about the nature of embodiment.