Stress-Induced Cortisol Facilitates Threat-Related Decision Making Among Police Officers
Stress-Induced Cortisol Facilitates Threat-Related Decision Making Among Police Officers
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DOI：
10.1037/a0026657
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发表时间：
2012-02-01
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Mendes, Wendy Berry
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Akinola, Modupe;Mendes, Wendy Berry
先前的研究表明，皮质醇会影响认知功能，例如记忆、决策和对威胁相关线索的注意力。在这里，我们研究是否增加皮质醇，带来了急性社会压力，影响威胁相关的决策。81名警察完成了一个标准化的实验室压力源，然后立即完成了一个计算机模拟决策任务，该任务旨在检查准确射击或不射击武装和非武装的黑人和白色目标的决定。结果表明，警察谁有较大的皮质醇增加的社会压力任务，随后作出较少的错误时，决定射击武装黑色目标相对于武装白色目标，这表明下丘脑垂体肾上腺（HPA）激活可能会加剧警惕的威胁线索。最后，我们讨论了威胁发起的决策的影响。
Previous research suggests that cortisol can affect cognitive functions such as memory, decision making, and attentiveness to threat-related cues. Here, we examine whether increases in cortisol, brought on by an acute social stressor, influence threat-related decision making. Eighty-one police officers completed a standardized laboratory stressor and then immediately completed a computer simulated decision-making task designed to examine decisions to accurately shoot or not shoot armed and unarmed Black and White targets. Results indicated that police officers who had larger cortisol increases to the social-stress task subsequently made fewer errors when deciding to shoot armed Black targets relative to armed White targets, suggesting that hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) activation may exacerbate vigilance for threat cues. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of threat-initiated decision making.