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The psychology of guns: risk, fear, and motivated reasoning

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  • Joseph M. Pierre

    (Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences)

Abstract

The gun debate in America is often framed as a stand-off between two immutable positions with little potential to move ahead with meaningful legislative reform. Attempts to resolve this impasse have been thwarted by thinking about gun ownership attitudes as based on rational choice economics instead of considering the broader socio-cultural meanings of guns. In this essay, an additional psychological perspective is offered that highlights how concerns about victimization and mass shootings within a shared culture of fear can drive cognitive bias and motivated reasoning on both sides of the gun debate. Despite common fears, differences in attitudes and feelings about guns themselves manifest in variable degrees of support for or opposition to gun control legislation that are often exaggerated within caricatured depictions of polarization. A psychological perspective suggests that consensus on gun legislation reform can be achieved through understanding differences and diversity on both sides of the debate, working within a common middle ground, and more research to resolve ambiguities about how best to minimize fear while maximizing personal and public safety.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph M. Pierre, 2019. "The psychology of guns: risk, fear, and motivated reasoning," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:5:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-019-0373-z
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-019-0373-z
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Chip E. Miller & Andrew Bryant, 2022. "Evaluation of the association between the flow of firearms and mass shooting deaths," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 925-937, June.
    2. Mason Youngblood, 2020. "Extremist ideology as a complex contagion: the spread of far-right radicalization in the United States between 2005 and 2017," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Fu, Feng & Rockmore, Daniel N., 2024. "Too little, too late – a dynamical systems model for gun-related violence and intervention," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 467(C).

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