Threat Recognition Trainer

This is the offline App version of the Threat Recognition Trainer (TRT). The TRT is meant to help you recognize "Pre-Incident Indicators" (PINs) faster and more efficiently. Threat recognition is a powerful tool to prevent violent encounters!

Background scenario of the TRT:

You are walking across the street, you are heading for a store. The neighbourhood is familiar to you, you have passed it a couple of times when it was quiet before. While you are walking, you briefly glance to your right.

Whatever it is that you see during the brief glance will determine your response:

"Yellow": you keep walking, there is nothing going on

"Orange": you start walking slightly slower in order to make a better assessment of the situation

"Red": you can see that there is danger, you backoff a little or start to de-escalate the situation

"Black": preventing the violence is no longer possible, you attack pre-emptive or run away

FAQ:

What is the aim of the TRT?

To train your unconscious (automatic) threat perception by attentional retraining.

How does it work?

The TRT is a form of attentional retraining, it is designed to help you become aware of Pre-Incident Indicators (PINs). A similar training method has been used by Paul Ekman for the detection of micro-expressions (as made famous by the TV series "Lie to Me").

First, play through the TRT at the slowest speed (3 seconds) so that you can consciously attend to PINs. If you are correct 8/10 times, then move to a faster speed. Keep doing so until you can get a 8/10 score at one of the higher speed settings (1/4th of a second or faster): this means that all you need is a glimpse to reliably detect PINs.

I do not agree with YOUR assessment of the situation.


Perfectly normal: threat assessment greatly depends on context, which is severely lacking in the TRT. Therefore, it is likely that you will encounter pictures of scenarios that we found more (or less) threatening than you. Does this make the TRT less effective? Not at all: the important part is recognizing PINs. Whether that puts you in condition "orange" or "red" is a mere detail compared with whether or not you spot or miss the PIN altogether.

Exactly what do the 5 conditions ("white", "yellow", "orange", "red" en "black") mean?

Let's explain using an example. Suppose you are walking on the street, and are approaching 2 men who are standing still.

Condition white would mean that you haven't even noticed them, because you are completely unaware of what is going on in this moment of your life. This is often caused by distraction, and it's neither any good for safety reasons nor for living a happy life.

Condition yellow would mean that you have noticed them due to a general awareness, but that you stay relaxed and continue walking.

Condition orange would mean that you've noticed that something is not right, and either slow down or stop completely to take a second look.

Condition red would mean that you've noticed a threat, and decided to walk away or to start de-escalating. In condition red, your hands should be up to protect against a sucker punch.

Condition black would mean that a physical confrontation is imminent (and de-escalation would be of no use). In condition black, you should either run away as fast as you can or attack the attacker(s).

Why Pre-Incident Indicators?


Lucky for you, we have put a video on our youtube channel covering exactly this topic: https://youtu.be/OYut_p2IMXw

Will this make me paranoid?

This topic is also covered in the video above. So no, we don't believe the TRT will make you paranoid: it will help you distinguish a dangerous situation from a safe one.

Still, you probably shouldn't overindulge. Play the TRT on 5 different days in 3 minute sessions. After this: stop.