Abstract
In this paper, we review basic findings from experimental studies in judgment and decision making that could contribute to designing policies and trainings to enhance police decision making. Traditional judgment and decision-making research has focused on simple choices between hypothetical gambles, which has been criticized for its lack of generalizability to real world contexts. Over the past 15 years, researchers have focused on understanding the dynamic processes in decision making. This recent focus has allowed for the possibility of more generalizable applications of basic decision science to social issues. We review recent work in three dynamic decision-making topics: dynamic accumulation of evidence in the decision to shoot or not shoot, how previous decisions influence current choices, and how the cognitive and neurological processing of fear influences decisions and decision errors. We conclude this review with a summary of how basic experimental research can apply in policing and training.
Highlights
We review recent experimental work in judgment and decisionmaking (JDM) that has brought dynamic decision making back into focus and discuss some of the experimental findings from this work that could contribute to improving police decision making
Though the criticism that traditional judgment and decisionmaking research lacks generalizability to consequential real world decision making has some validity, recent trends have focused on the dynamics of decision making which provide more fidelity with real world decision contexts
The emerging topic of decisions from experience illustrates that reactions to risk and possible outcomes are strongly influenced by previous decisions made in similar contexts
Summary
By integrating the dynamic drift diffusion model to the classic first-person shooting task, Pleskac et al (2018) found that the race of the target did not affect the prior bias of decision makers to shoot Black targets. When examining the specific decision processes under the dynamic drift diffusion model, the authors found a quicker rate of evidence accumulation when faced with a Black target. The novel application of the dynamic drift diffusion model on the classic police shooting task affords future research to more finely examine how race, experience, and training combine to affect the decision-making process. Under the dynamic drift diffusion model, it is possible to observe similar decision outcomes between different decision processes
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