Thin slicing? Sources?

[John Hearne]

While written for the LE world, the FBI Study - Violent Encounters - discusses how criminals make decisions to assault to not based on very small observations.

[voodoo_man]

Voodoo, can you expand on how you use statistical probability? I'm not sure I agree with you as it pertains to discrimination.

Without getting into it too in dept, because i could write a thesis on this subject alone.

Specific areas are more likely to produce a statistical probability of contact than others, especially when you calculate other specific factors.

[JustOneGun]

Voodoo man thanks for replying. My pea brain was going in a very different direction.

To the OP: I suggest expanding your research to just more than thin slicing and move into the different ways we as humans think, with thin slicing being just one. The reason is that while bad guys use thin slicing, we can never know what their cognitive biases are. Those biases determine how their thin slicing works. No matter our depth of knowledge on the subject what we end up with in criminal deselection is a list of do and don't behaviors that give us a lower statistical chance of not being selected. We only need a bit of knowledge in order to place that list into context for our own lives. The trick is getting the list of do and don't behaviors. As someone said, just go take the Givens, Southnarc and Aprill class. LOL.

IMHO the value in learning more about thin slicing, heuristics and biases comes from our own use of thin slicing and how we can avoid the negative biases while promoting the positive. As a police officer I was always shocked at how seemingly intelligent people with good common sense would place themselves into harms way because of some fault of logic. Then again as I get older and older I have seen myself do it. It's more about lessening the occurrence. Hence I often use the old saying, "There but by the grace of G_d go I."

[voodoo_man]

Just to point out, while there may be specific actions many people will do there is no standard of actions that indicate premeditation or the like.