There’s an interesting experiment taking place at the University of Chicago… they have a game which shows 120 different pictures of men in various city settings. Some have guns, some do not. The goals are to not shoot unarmed people (by pressing z on the keyboard), and to shoot people who have a gun (by pressing / on the keyboard). You have to decide quickly as the pictures flash by pretty fast. I won’t say what they’re looking to prove (so you don’t have a preconceived notion of what the result might be), but you can read more here and here after you’re done.
Stereotyping and Prejudice Research Laboratory – Shooter Game
My results:
Score: 540
Average reaction times:
Black armed: 713.16 ms
Black unarmed: 1596.96 ms
White armed: 740.52 ms
White unarmed: 821.08 ms
Here’s what Bleys got!
Score: 670
Average reaction times:
Black Armed: 592.36 ms
Black Unarmed: 772.2 ms
White Armed: 607.72 ms
White Unarmed: 727.96 ms
His times are amazingly fast. He plays a lot of games, though, so he’s kinda twitchy like that. ;)
If you try it, feel free to share your results here. What does it all mean? I don’t know yet… will continue to ponder.
My results:
Your Score: 570
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:703.36ms
Black Unarmed:773.84ms
White Armed:704.56ms
White Unarmed:790.64ms
Your description of Bleys as “twitchy” conjures an image of the old west. I see a big, 10-gallon hat and squinty eyes.
My score:
Your Score: 705
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:675.12ms
Black Unarmed:790.64ms
White Armed:714.12ms
White Unarmed:745.12ms
The targets didn’t seem random to me at all.
Game Over
Your Score: 505
Average reaction time:
Black Armed:811.52ms
Black Unarmed:899.84ms
White Armed:758.84ms
White Unarmed:841.56ms
My problem was more a matter of holstering when I shouldn’t have. Guess I tried to be to cautious?