An experiment examined the effects of police officers' caffeine consumption on their perception and shooting behaviour during confrontations with offenders. Based upon theories of emotions and attributional processes (Schachter, 1964; Zillmann, 1978, 1983) it was hypothesised that caffeine consumption would lead to an under-estimation of the offender's aggression, less aggressive feelings towards the offender, and decreased willingness to shoot at the offender. Fifty-two police officers in Holland ingested either 150 mg of caffeine or Vitamin C and faced a videotaped Fire Arms Training System simulated scenario. The results supported the hypotheses, and some implications are discussed in this paper.
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