According to Psychologists: If You Simply Hold a Gun You Believe Others Have a Gun

I don’t have a Ph.D. in psychology.  I have read many studies that suggest to me that part of the requirement for obtaining such an advanced degree is to completely do away with any hint of common sense you might possess.  That is the only way to explain how some extremely ridiculous studies could be conceived and performed.  Below is the study that wants us to believe that by holding a toy gun you are more inclined to think others have one.  I think this is a false premise.   I used to think most people who conduct research could think rationally but this study has created serious doubts within me. 

My accurate insights are in italics.

New Research Shows That Holding a Gun Makes You Think Others Are Too

Wielding a gun increases a person's bias to see guns in the hands of others, new research from the University of Notre Dame shows.

If you’re traveling through certain parts of New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia or even Afghanistan, I think this is a reasonable assumption.

Notre Dame Associate Professor of Psychology James Brockmole, who specializes in human cognition and how the visual world guides behavior, together with a colleague from Purdue University, conducted the study.  In five experiments, subjects were shown multiple images of people on a computer screen and determined whether the person was holding a gun or a neutral object, such as a soda can or cell phone. Subjects did this while holding either a toy gun or a neutral object, such as a foam ball.

Well, who knew you could draw evidence from real life by looking at a computer screen?  Did anyone bother to check the eyesight of the participants?  Is it me or is body language also an important aspect of determining if someone has a firearm?  (Sarcasm alert) I guess if you’re holding a toy gun you have a whole different attitude then if you’re holding a foam ball.  I know when I’m holding a fully loaded squirt gun, I’m hoping to find another person who has one.

The researchers varied the situation in each experiment, such as having the people in the images sometimes wear ski masks, changing the race of the person in the image or changing the reaction subjects were to have when they perceived the person in the image to hold a gun.

I wonder what type of gun?  You’d have a different response from seeing a 357 Magnum to noticing a derringer.  I imagine the picture of a nun holding a derringer would be less threatening than seeing an escaped prisoner holding a 357 Magnum.

Regardless of the situation, the observers found the study showing that responding with a gun.  Biased observers reported "gun present" more than those with a ball. Thus, by virtue of affording the subject the opportunity to use a gun, he or she was more likely to classify objects in a scene as a gun and, as a result, to engage in threat-induced behavior, such as raising a firearm to shoot.

Huh?  This is where the requirement to get rid of your common sense in order to receive an advanced degree could be problematic.  This looks stupid.  “Affording the subject the opportunity to use a gun he or she was more likely to classify objects in a scene as a gun.”  Are these researchers out of their minds?  What opportunity?  The subjects had toy guns.  Someone needs to tell these people that holding a real gun and looking at real people if a bit different. 

“And, as a result, to engage in threat-induced behavior, such as raising a firearm to shoot.”

I hope this study wasn’t taxpayer funded.  How many people raised their toy guns to shoot?  Hey, maybe they should’ve seen how many of the participants holding foam balls were tempted to throw them at the computer screen.  In theory, they afforded the opportunity to throw a rock at someone?

"Beliefs, expectations, and emotions can all influence an observer's ability to detect and to categorize objects as guns," Dr. Brockmole says.

As does the ability of a researcher to conduct experiments that dwell in the realm of the ridiculous. 

"Now we know that a person's ability to act in certain ways can bias their recognition of objects as well, and in dramatic ways."

(Sarcasm Alert) All that from recording people holding a toy gun or foam ball while looking at pictures on the computer.  Who knew?  Next, they’ll probably engage in other earth-shattering scientific research like trying to discover why people who buy food also eat it.

"In addition to the theoretical implications for event perception and object identification, these findings have practical implications for law enforcement and public safety," Brockmole says.

Really?  I think the only real practical implication of this study is for law enforcement to arrest whoever funded this and explain to them the real world is about more than foam balls, toy guns, and computer images.  I say it should be done in the name of public safety.

Here is a link to the story

https://news.nd.edu/news/holding-a-gun-makes-you-think-others-are-too-new-research-shows/



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