(dailyRx News) Our perceptions of the world around us can guide
our everyday behavior and reinforce our actions. Now, new
knowledge of how we perceive guns could have implications for
law enforcement and violence prevention. New research suggests
that those who are currently wielding a gun are more likely to
believe that others are wielding a gun as well. This perception
may help justify an increase in threatening behavior as well.
"Beliefs, expectations, and emotions can all influence an
observer's ability to detect and to categorize objects as guns,"
says James Brockmole, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of
Psychology at Notre Dame. Study subjects were given either a toy
gun or a neutral object, like a foam ball. Then, they were shown
images of people on a screen who were holding a gun or a neutral
object. The subjects were then asked to react to the images. For
example, they might be asked to point their toy gun at the
screen if they felt the person on screen had a gun. The
researchers found that those who we