When faced with an apparent threat from a man in a Muslim-style turban, Australians are likely to shoot first and ask questions later – especially if they’re in a good mood.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have found most Australians see a turban as a threat – even if they’re not aware they hold that prejudice.
During the study Australian university students played a computer games which involved shooting people who appeared on apartment balconies.
Some of the characters in the game were wearing turbans or hijabs – while others were bareheaded.
Players were instructed to shoot the characters carrying guns and spare the unarmed.
Researchers found Muslim-looking characters – men and women – were more likely to be shot, even if they were carrying an innocent looking item like a mug or drink bottle.
The study found angry players shot more at everyone, but happy players particularly targeted the Muslim-looking characters.
Dr Tom Denson, who headed the study, said that mood played a big part in the results.
"We manipulated mood in the study," he told LIVENEWS.com.au.
"We had a neutral control condition. We had an anger condition in which people received some feedback that made them a little bit angry and then we had a happiness condition in which people received some feedback that made them feel good.
"What happens is - and this is part of a broader set of findings - happy people tend to rely on stereotypes a little bit more than unhappy people."
The study found that men were more likely to be shot than women with the bias to shoot strongest on Muslim-dressed, non-Caucasian males. The characters left unharmed most often were non-Muslim, Caucasian females.