Trayvon Martin Case: Study Shows Holding A Gun May Make You Think Others Are Too

NEW YORK -- No one knows what led a Florida neighborhood watch captain to shoot Trayvon Martin, a teenager carrying no weapon.

But a new study raises an intriguing question: Could the watch captain have been fooled into thinking the youth was armed in part because he himself was holding a gun?

In the study, volunteers who held a toy gun and glimpsed fleeting images of people holding an object were biased toward thinking the object was a gun.

It's another indication that the brain shapes what we perceive in the world beyond the information that comes in through our eyes, said James Brockmole of the University of Notre Dame, who did the work with psychologist Jessica Witt at Purdue University.

In a telephone interview, Brockmole stressed he had no inside information on the Feb. 26 shooting of 17-year-old Martin, who was shot and killed in a gated community in Sanford, a suburb of Orlando. The neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, said he shot the teen in self-defense because the youth attacked him. The case has drawn outrage and protests, and the federal Department of Justice said Monday it will investigate.

Brockmole said it's possible that Zimmerman's perception might have been skewed by being armed.

Race may have also played a role. Martin is black; Zimmerman's family says he is Hispanic. Past research suggests that people can be more likely to perceive a poorly seen object as a gun if it's held by a black person than by a white person, experts say.

Zimmerman has not spoken publicly. The police report does not mention whether he thought Martin had a firearm. But during his patrol of the neighborhood in his SUV, Zimmerman called 911 and told a police dispatcher that he was following Martin. "We've had some break-ins my neighborhood. ...There is a really suspicious guy."

Then a bit later, he said the youth was approaching and "he's got something in his hands."

In the study which was carried out well before the shooting, undergraduates at Notre Dame and Purdue glimpsed scenes of people holding objects and had to decide quickly whether the object was a gun. The results showed they were biased toward thinking so if they themselves were holding a toy gun, rather than a plastic ball. Just having a gun nearby didn't make a difference, researchers found.

Why is that? Brockmole said people are primed to act in the world rather than just passively see it. So their minds have to contain information both about what they see and what they might do in response. Evidently, each kind of information can influence the other, he said.

He said the work is not intended to support gun control, but it suggests that people should know that when they hold a gun "that might change how you're going to interpret what's around you."

Brockmole's findings make sense, said Evan Risko, who studies perception and attention at Arizona State University. "Our perception is influenced by a number of different factors, and that can have important consequences," he said.

Dennis Proffitt, who studies visual perception at the University of Virginia, said there are many reasons why one person might think another is armed, such as if he is worried about his own safety or if he thinks the other person is a robber. The effect of holding a gun oneself "could be part of the story" in Florida, he said.

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Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Sanford, Fla., contributed to this report.

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Comments

[dadoorsron]

10:06 AM on 03/25/2012

What this study should of provided is the fact Gun owners have a different mind set then non-gun owners. You talk to gun owners and they voice their rights, their right to protect their house, family, and property. Then they give a long winded speach about self defense! I talked to one gun owner that said in 56 years he has never needed to use his weapon but, he feels safer. This conversation was in Florida and he had a conceal carry permit. He repeatedly stated that criminals have guns so he should have one. I asked him if he was a victim of a crime. He said never, because he has guns in the house. That, surprised me because, I didn't see any sign on his front lawn that had "Beware home of a gun owner" Owning a weapon for the home protection is fine. However, having a conceal carry permit is just to give that person a sense of being a cowboy or police officer. Carrying a weapon also give that person a false sense of saftey and the courage to act out(protect themselves and others). A normal citizen carrying a concealed weapon is nothing more then a ego boost. An attempt to make themselves feel more important. The Gun laws and who is allowed to carry weapons must be altered and greater restriction made.

[pezmusic]

01:50 AM on 03/26/2012

DOJ study from 1998 said single thing that would help your a crime is having a gun on your person

[Veneita]

08:55 AM on 03/24/2012

Meanwhile Mark Dayton vetoes stand your ground in Minnesota http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/141766443.html

[DONCAL]

11:44 PM on 03/22/2012

Another lame excuse !!!!

[dlouied]

07:12 PM on 03/22/2012

The Police told George Zimmerman not to follow the victim, case closed - get back in your vehicle and wait for the officer to arrive - Arrest George Zimmerman before he kills again.

[OdinsEye]

08:08 PM on 03/22/2012

The dispatcher can only advise. What the dispatcher advised Zimmerman to do is not an order and does not legally have to be followed.

[ConservativebyNature]

09:24 PM on 03/22/2012

The police did no such thing. It was a 911 dispatcher. They have no authority to tell you what to do. Should he have waited? Yes he probably should have. The point is, he didn't have to.

[pezmusic]

01:51 AM on 03/26/2012

Not following the advice is not a crime.

[Rooster Coburn]

12:55 PM on 03/22/2012

I'm holding a coffee cup, which must make me think that you are too!

[OdinsEye]

08:20 PM on 03/22/2012

Interesting thing -- I corresponded with one of the authors and was able to review the soon to be published paper. The author admitted that they did not try to factor for comfort level of holding a firearm.

After reading the paper, I brought up a couple points I see as critical flaws 1) It did not appear that the paper graded if the responses were correct or incorrect, just how many times the person made a particular choice. It did not even say if the sets of images were equal in number of firearm vs non-firearm images. In fact it specifically said in one spot that the person recording the information had no idea which image was on the screen. 2) The set-up used a small computer monitor, a Wii controller shaped like a pistol, and a computer mouse. If you consider the age of most of the student participants, when they hold a video game controller shapped like a pistol, they are going to assume that they are playing a first person shoo.ter game and therefore will be trying to shoot first and not worry about innocent casualties -- in video games they just lose a few points for that and it is perfectly acceptable.

When I mentioned that, you know what I heard back? Crickets.

[Rooster Coburn]

11:09 PM on 03/22/2012

Besides, if you are holding a weapon in your hand(s) you most probably have already perceived a serious or life-threatening contingency. People don't normally go around holding guns in their hands all day.

[ShakeYourComplacency]

06:22 PM on 03/24/2012

I don't see critical flaws.

The study was very simple:

"The results showed they were biased toward thinking so if they themselves were holding a toy gun, rather than a plastic ball. Just having a gun nearby didn't make a difference."

They ran the same exact test, randomly, with people holding a ball, holding a gun, and for another factor, tested with a gun next to them. The highest response for the brain determining a person was holding a gun was produced at the time the subjects were holding a toy gun.

What is flawed about that? Aren't you familiar with how the brain works and makes judgements for us and assesses danger in the environment? The study makes no comment on guilty or innocent in the case, it's just a study on perception.

[karambit]

07:25 AM on 03/22/2012

Great!
Now cops have another excuse to shoot unarmed suspects. Thanks for nothing.
IMO the study is BS

With due respect to the family and friends of Treyvon Martin
suggesting the 'Stand Your Ground Law' is responsible for his death is bogus. Zimmerman violated every principle on which the law is grounded. As stated by the legislators who wrote the law "You cannot provoke the confrontation. You cannot be the instigator and then claim 'stand your ground,'" which is exactly what Z'man did. May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ embrace the soul of Treyvon Martin and give comfort to his family and friends, AMEN

[biznesschic]

08:27 AM on 03/22/2012

The problem is that the local police used stand you ground as an excuse not to arrest Zimmerman, so the law IS the problem.

[karambit]

09:32 AM on 03/22/2012

I strenuously disagree. Z'man wasn't arrested because there were no witnesses to dispute his story. Z'man had wounds on the back of his head, which he may have inflicted on himself after the shooting. Z'man had the status of a Neighborhood Watch Captain, which was not registered and was not known to the police at the time.
Z'man lived in the complex. Zimmerman will be arrested in due course and stand trial.

[ConservativebyNature]

09:27 PM on 03/22/2012

It isn't the law that's the problem It may be the training of the police in handling issues dealing with the law, but the law is fine as written.

[Derrick Thompson]

06:22 AM on 03/22/2012

Zimmerman's perception was skewed because he was an aggressive racist looking for a reason to blast. Pay more attention to the studies on how blacks are prosecuted vs. others and less toward the perceptions on those holding a firearm. I apologize if I'm coming across as angry but I am. Reasonable doubt should have made the police department detain and incarcerate Zimmerman until an investigation could be carried out. He's now in hiding because of his own aggressive behaviour. To say this is a shame is an understatement!!

[ConservativebyNature]

09:33 PM on 03/22/2012

you annot possible begin to know what Z-mans perception was nor can you know anything of his intent. That is unless you had the opportunity to examine all the evidence and statements as well as conduct the voice analysis on the "help" on the 911 call. Then you could do a psych exam in Z-man and then maybe just maybe you can speak to his intent and frame of mind. Police typically don't place someone under arrest unless they have probable cause and then it is only for 72 hours unless they charge him. Apparently they didn't feel they could charge him at the time. that doesn't mean that they won't. I think they will find enough cause to arrest him and charge him in the death. Of course i don't know that for a fact and I also don't know that he actually did anything against the law. The evidence will tell us once he goes on trial.

[Derrick Thompson]

02:28 AM on 03/23/2012

ConservativebyNature, he shot an unarmed teenager AFTER being instructed not to and AFTER pursuing him and then claimed self-defense because it was the only option that would keep him from being incarcerated. While I do appreciate your attempt to keep a balanced view on this matter, there would not be a sense of national outrage had he not done anything "against the law". However, if you placed your own children in the situation, regardless of race, and police interviewed the shooter, let him go and then failed to contact you for two days, would you be so fast to hold to the tenants of the law or would you want justice? There is much to be assumed from the evidence presented already and none of it makes Zimmerman look any better other than the fact that he did call the authorities although he's thought to have called them almost every week for a year. If you believe that shooting someone who is unarmed and "looks suspectful" is NOT against the law, we really have nothing else to say on this matter to one another. Have a good day.

[Derrick Thompson]

02:42 AM on 03/23/2012

**Editing note** AFTER being instructed not to follow him**

[pezmusic]

01:59 AM on 03/26/2012

You do know Zimmerman is a mentor to two black kids who do not have a father? He has family members who are black as well.

[Sweet Liberty]

03:07 AM on 03/22/2012

People with violent records shouldn't have the right to own, nor handle guns.

[OdinsEye]

08:21 PM on 03/22/2012

Never convicted, therefore assumed to be innocent.

[Sweet Liberty]

10:06 AM on 03/23/2012

If they have a record they have been convicted.

[Sweet Liberty]

04:15 PM on 03/23/2012

convicted or violent history. This stupid SYG law is the reason why an innocent boy has been murdered AND public records show that Zimmerman was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer.

[sschevy6772]

08:00 PM on 03/21/2012

I wonder how big this story would have been if it was a Hispanic or White kid and a Black shooter..

[pbeat]

11:18 PM on 03/21/2012

Don't you hope it would have been the same if a 17 year old white kid was gunned down while walking home with a bag of skittles? Wait a minute, it is the same. Except the black shooter would have been arrested immediately. Chasing someone down and shooting them because you think they might have a gun isn't helpful.

[sschevy6772]

11:56 AM on 03/22/2012

Yes, I would hope. However, I know it wouldn't. Stuff like this happens ever single day in every single city. Watch the local news. Why is this one any different? Because people pull the race card. Wrong place, wrong time.

[Berettasskeeter]

07:59 AM on 03/23/2012

Speculation is fun, isn't it? But it has no basis in the current case! The shooter is hispanic, part black according to his family.
Semper fi

[Rooster Coburn]

07:50 PM on 03/21/2012

ABC World News reported around an hour ago that the Sanford, Fla. police department now believes that Mr. Martin attacked Mr. Zimmerman after the latter man had returned to his truck and the it is likely a case of self-defense according to the available evidence.

[OdinsEye]

06:41 PM on 03/21/2012

I have been unable to locate a copy of this study, but right off the bat I would have to question if the participants are people who routinely carry firearms and are comfortable with them.

Someone for whom carrying is second nature or even just relatively common and who is comfortable with firearms almost always acts differently than someone who is nervous or uncomfortable with firearms. I know this from being a cop and from being an LE and civilian arms instructor.

So, if the study did not account for this, I would have to question its validity regarding people with concealed carry permits.

[Kelli May]

04:44 PM on 03/22/2012

I have a concealed weapons permit and this study is BOGUS! But then again, ever since I was a child in self defense courses, I was always taught 1. flight or flight (I always ran away if I could) and 2. you never know what someone else is carrying or willing to do.

[OdinsEye]

08:22 PM on 03/22/2012

I kind of agree that it is bogus. When I pointed out some pretty obvious flaws in the study, the author quit corresponding with me.

[8th wonder]

06:32 PM on 03/21/2012

Quiet Professional you are correct...the issue need not be white vs. black racisim. However, whatever his color, I think most would agree that there is some evidence of bias here. So question, how can a man with a gun prepared to use it, chase down a child and claim he felt threatend, without any conversation that the child did not initiate. The child screamed for his life - how did Zimmerman feel threatend. Reminds me of what the governor of Arizona did to President Obama, she's all in his face in a very demeaning and disrespectul way pointing her fingers directly in his nose...then she goes on various media outlets talking about she felt threatend, and she was gleeful even laughing about it. Could not the secret service just have shot her dead. I mean as a doorknob dead. Please people you can't just draw a line on morality and say "its only for our race - white people only" this has to stop.

I'm defending truth and justice here. I'm not condemning Zimmerman I think he will get what he deserves. I'm upset about that ridiculous law. Everyone, all people she demand that it be ripped out of whatever law book it's in never to rear its ugly head again. Its nothing more than a license to kill people. How can you sympathize with Mitt Romneys dog and not feel anything for this child, his mom and dad...what kind of people are we.

[ConservativebyNature]

08:37 PM on 03/21/2012

I think your speaking from emotion rather than logic. First, all the evidence isn't in yet and we can't be sure he actually chased down a 6'3" Football player. Remember that this young man didn't look like he did in all the pictures they've been splashing all over. He wasn't a 13 year old.

It hasn't been proven that it was Martin that was screaming help on the 911 recording. We'll have to wait for voice analysis to get an answer to that.

This has nothing to do with the Gov of AZ. the situation was completely different and no, the SS couldn't have shot her. They might have restrained her, but shoot? No.

This law doesn't allow murder. It hasn't changed the rules for the application of leathal force that were in place before the SYG law was enacted. All it changed was that it removed the requirement to retreat.

I'm sorry that Zimmerman shot Martin, but if it was in self-defense, the Zimmerman should go free. If it isn't deemed to have been in self-defense, the Z-man should go to jail for a long time. You are right, he'll get what he deserves.

This is not a black / white issue as people are making it out to be. It may not even be a hispanic / black issue depending on what all the evidence says.

[pbeat]

11:25 PM on 03/21/2012

I knew this would be your comment just by your name. It IS a conservative viewpoint. If you cling to your gun the way George Zimmerman was clinging to his gun that night, would you have been screaming for help for a few minutes before "defending" yourself against an unarmed 6'3 football player? Remember big gun clingon, you have the loaded gun. What would have happened if YOU were BIG Neighborhood Watch Volunteer with a Gun. After you chased the kid down and caught him.

[tan2123]

01:42 AM on 03/22/2012

It becomes a race issue when the white police officer disregards the importance of this crime by OBVIOUS nature of the boy's skin color- I doubt they thought anybody would notice and if they did, they'd have a tiny voice- SIMPLE LOGIC!

[Kelli May]

04:47 PM on 03/22/2012

I am sorry, a 17 year old is NOT a child. A 17 year old is a young adult.

[luckyone77]

05:14 PM on 03/21/2012

this is why guns need to be outlawed

[HisXLNC]

08:15 PM on 03/21/2012

Exactly. That way we can ensure than anyone who has a gun is an outlaw.

[pbeat]

11:26 PM on 03/21/2012

The police have guns. What are you saying?

[nicholemurphy1]

04:15 PM on 03/21/2012

In Zimmerman's self defense claim he said "the youth was approaching and "he's got something in his hands." in listening to the 911 recording you can hear Zimmerman out of breath when he says that the kid was running. Then the 911 operator asked him if he was persuing Trayvon and told him not to. He should have waited in his vehicle at the location he originally gave 911 for the police to arrive. His choice to continue to follow, with a gun Trayvon makes it his fault.

What person, let alone a kid, wouldn't run away from some strange guy riding around in his car while slowly follwing them. And, if at some point they realized that they couldnt outrun the guy, might attack assuming that the person stalking them was up to no good. He would not have seen anything in the boys hands; tea, skittles or a phone if he had waited for the police. Zimmerman was WRONG... he is a MURDERER!!! And, should be sent to prison as such. God bless and comfort Trayvon's family.

[pezmusic]

02:04 AM on 03/26/2012

There are witnesses who saw Martin on top of Zimmerman beating him.

[nkevinma]

02:37 PM on 03/21/2012

Its the stupid Law that they had passed "Stand your ground". Its too easy to shoot someone and now you can said its self defense. Its bring more killings whatever its self defense or not. Lets bring the Old West everybody can have guns. This is 2012. I blame NRA lobbing this law to pass.

[OdinsEye]

06:42 PM on 03/21/2012

"and now you can said its self defense. "

You have always been able to claim self-defense. The basic criteria for when it is and is not self-defense are basically unchanged from before the law -- the main thing the did was removed the duty to try to retreat, if possible, before employing lethal force.

[pbeat]

11:28 PM on 03/21/2012

How about running after the victim and tackling him? is that far enough away from duty to retreat?