Date Approved
2024
Degree Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department or School
Psychology
Committee Member
Stephen Jefferson, Ph. D.
Committee Member
Rusty McIntyre, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Angela Staples, Ph.D.
Abstract
The current experiment is an exploration of how people arrive at causal explanations for instances of mass school shootings in the United States. Specifically, this study utilized a fictitious shooter vignette approach with a 2 (White vs. Black shooter) x 2 (shooter played violent vs. nonviolent video games) between-subject ANOVA to determine if these variables would differentially influence the participants’ levels of agreement with various causal attributions about why a mass shooter would engage in such an act of violence. In particular, this study explored participants’ utilization of internal (e.g., innate characteristics like the shooter’s race or gender) or external explanations (e.g., environmental factors such as having neglectful parents, being exposed to violent video games, being bullied at school) for the youth's murderous behavior. Partial support was found for the main hypothesis that the race of the shooter would alter how people perceive the cause of the shooter's actions.
Recommended Citation
Beaupre, Brian, "Perceptions of school shooters: How the race of a school shooter and his video game playing habits influence observers’ explanatory attributions about his crime" (2024). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 1282.
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1282
