Question

What research question did the authors seek to answer?   (Introduction)

What methods did the authors use to answer the research question? Be specific. (Methods)

What were the primary results of the study? (Results)

What conclusions should we draw from the article? What are the implications of the article? (Discussion)

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/lhb-lhb0000140.pdf

Answer 1

The main research question the reasearchers sought to address was to find if existing racial stereotypes played any role among Black and White participants to feel stereotypic threat during police encounters.

Two studies were designed to address the research question. In the first part of the study, Black and White undergraduate students from the University of Illinois were employed and were asked to complete a questionnaire relating to stereotypic threat and the other asking for their demographic measures. For the second part of the study, another set of Black and White undergraduate students from the same university were employed. They were asked for their demographic information and were then given a thought induction task wherein they were required to actively imagine a polic encounter. After this task, the researchers assessed the stereotypic threat by measuring spontaneous reactions, word stem completion reaction, expected response of the police officer and expected stereotypic threat.

The results indicated that overall Black men but not White men experience stereotypic threat in polic encounters. This stereotypic threat is apparent among Black men when even both the groups envision the same encounter and their likelihood of being identified as targets.

The researchers concluded their findings could be generalised to real situations in police encounters, hypothesising that even larger differences maybe observed under such conditions. Since stereotypic threat can also impact interpersonal communication, the study can help understanding the prevalence of stereotypes as a social pattern. In addition, it also draws attention to bias based policing, wherein memebers of the police force may be affected by implicit stereotypes while making judgements.