Project Description: A study interested in racial bias in policing examined police responses to Black and White criminal suspects (Plant & Peruche, 2005).  The results of the initial exposure to the program found that officers were more likely to mistakenly shoot unarmed Black suspects compared to unarmed White subjects.  The subjects then went through a computer training program and were tested again.  The final results showed that after completing extensive training, the bias was eliminated.  I think it would be interesting to re-create this program with VR to make it more immersive and life-like.  With calls for police reform being especially dominant, this program could also be a valuable tool to study effective ways to go about this reform.  I would want to do this study because I am very interested in the intersections between social science and virtual reality and how virtual reality can be utilized to enhance learning. (Link to study pdf:http://pss.sagepub.com/content/16/3/180.short)

Project Type: Experiment/Experience

Interest: Would potentially be interested in doing but also think someone else should do it

Device(s) to Be Used: Vive

Things I Know How to Do: Designing the experiment up to standard protocols

Things I Would Need Help With: I would need help getting started on the graphics and then programming the interactions between the participants and the subjects in the environment.