Identically proportioned Black men are perceived as larger and more threatening than White men

Evidence

For example, we show an illustration of two identically sized men, one Black and one White, and the 2017 study finding that when evaluating identically proportioned White and Black men, a majority of participants think the Black men are larger, stronger, and more liable to cause harm in an altercation (Wilson et al., 2017). The perceptions of threat linked to race have been shown to lead to “shooter bias” in which participants in simulated settings are more likely to make mistakes by shooting a Black man with a cell phone than a White man with a gun (Correll, 2007). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1363

For example, we show an illustration of two identically sized men, one Black and one White, and the 2017 study finding that when evaluating identically proportioned White and Black men, a majority of participants think the Black men are larger, stronger, and more liable to cause harm in an altercation (Wilson et al., 2017). The perceptions of threat linked to race have been shown to lead to “shooter bias” in which participants in simulated settings are more likely to make mistakes by shooting a Black man with a cell phone than a White man with a gun (Correll, 2007). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1363

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: how visual perception itself is socially conditioned — ‘unconscious metrics of threat’ beyond just bias in decisions.
• XREF: Connects to stereotype-threat and priming research familiar from social psychology literature on implicit cognition.
• corroborated: 4 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1363