After mass shootings, people may feel more willing to shoot someone, research says (via PsyPost)
"This particular study, on mass shootings, pertains to the spreading of violent ideas. We tested whether specific individuals — namely, those who are searching for their own means of personal empowerment, were the most likely to express more violent ideas in response to mass shootings."
Disempowered participants agreed with statements such as"Not a lot is done for people like me in America," and"If I compare myself against other Americans, my group is worse off." In one study, the researchers experimentally manipulated a sense of disempowerment by giving some participants a cognitive test that was impossible to solve correctly.
The link between disempowerment and assertive gun use was particularly strong among participants who felt mass shootings were an imminent threat. The findings suggest that mass shootings can inadvertently promote the idea of using guns to empower oneself. "Merely thinking about a threatening figure may suffice for us to be influenced by them. Although this sounds disturbing in the context of mass shootings, it is normal for human beings to internalize and imitate what we see in the world. If a troubling psychological phenomenon is rooted in an otherwise-normal mental process, it gives us a starting point for figuring out how to prevent it," Leander told PsyPost."As we note in the paper, these results should not be overstated.
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