Our current society suffers from racism that constitutes intentional or unintentional inequity and injustice for minorities in many aspects of life. One of these areas studied by social psycholo- gists is racial bias. They use police data to identify discriminatory policing practices and general population-level bias that contributes to disparate use of force directed at Black Americans. To bet- ter understand the disparity in the use of force, researchers studied “shooter bias.” Shooter bias is the tendency to mistakenly shoot unarmed Black suspects more often than unarmed White suspects and more quickly shoot at armed Black suspects than armed White suspects. To better address and eliminate racial bias from institutions, policies, and systems, we need to identify and measure racial discrimination via novel methods. Observing how bias affects different subsets of people may offer the ability to avoid biases that lead to potentially negative outcomes. Focusing in on how the demographic information of one individual may affect their implicit bias may give insight into why some shootings occur. The bias observed from the participant when they choose to shoot an avatar gives insight as to the aspect of the variables that affect their implicit bias when the decision to shoot is made. Then in proving that, it can be used to identify and measure such biases and consequently take actions to prevent similar real-life situations. Through the use of virtual reality simulations the testing for implicit bias can be undergone with the most available control. However, to develop a study within a virtual space requires the foreknowledge that the contents are being observed as intended. The need for a usability study into that which would be used in virtual reality to study implicit bias is necessary as a proof of concept and ensure adequate development. With both qualitative feedback and quantitative data it can be ensured that the virtual environment and its contents are suitable for use within a study on implicit bias in the future.

Recommended Citation: Rayle J., Ebrahimi E., Pence T., Cummings J., (2022). Usability study on the Observation of Implicit Shooter Bias Through Virtual Reality. UNCW MS CSIS Proceedings. V. 16 , N. 0 .