Simulated Airline Luggage Screening

Abstract

This study illustrates how social-cognitive biases affects the decision making process of airline luggage screeners. Participants (n = 96) performed a computer simulated task to detect hidden weapons in 200 x-ray images of passenger luggage. Participants saw each image for two (high time pressure) or six seconds (low time pressure). In addition, participants observed pictures of the “passenger” (representing five races and both genders) who owned the luggage. The “pre-anchor group” answered questions about the passenger before the luggage image appeared, the “post-anchor” group answered questions after the luggage appeared, and the “no-anchor group” answered no questions. Results revealed that participants under high time pressure had lower hit rates and higher false alarms than those under low time pressure. Significant interactions between passenger gender and race were found for the no-anchor group; there were no significant effects within the pre- and post anchor groups. Finally, participants had higher false alarm rates in response to male than female passengers.