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Good Cop, Bad Cop: Race-Based Differences in Mental Representations of Police.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Good Cop, Bad Cop: Race-Based Differences in Mental Representations of Police.
Authors: Lloyd, E. Paige1 (AUTHOR), Sim, Mattea2 (AUTHOR), Smalley, Evans3 (AUTHOR), Bernstein, Michael J.4 (AUTHOR), Hugenberg, Kurt2 (AUTHOR)
Source: Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin. Aug2020, Vol. 46 Issue 8, p1205-1218. 14p.
Subject Terms: *Police-community relations, Mental representation, African Americans, Police, Minorities, Social perception
Abstract: The current work investigates race-based biases in conceptualization of the facial appearance of police. We employ a reverse correlation procedure to demonstrate that Black Americans, relative to White Americans, conceptualize police officers' faces as more negative, less positive, and more dominant. We further find that these differential representations have implications for interactions with police. When naïve participants (of various races) viewed images of police officers generated by Black Americans (relative to those generated by White Americans), they responded with greater anticipated anxiety and reported more fight-or-flight behavioral intentions. Across four studies, findings suggest Black and White Americans conceptualize police and police-citizen interactions fundamentally differently. These findings have important theoretical (e.g., using reverse correlation to document the mental representations held by minority group members) and practical implications (e.g., identifying race-based differences in representations of police that may affect community-police relations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:The current work investigates race-based biases in conceptualization of the facial appearance of police. We employ a reverse correlation procedure to demonstrate that Black Americans, relative to White Americans, conceptualize police officers' faces as more negative, less positive, and more dominant. We further find that these differential representations have implications for interactions with police. When naïve participants (of various races) viewed images of police officers generated by Black Americans (relative to those generated by White Americans), they responded with greater anticipated anxiety and reported more fight-or-flight behavioral intentions. Across four studies, findings suggest Black and White Americans conceptualize police and police-citizen interactions fundamentally differently. These findings have important theoretical (e.g., using reverse correlation to document the mental representations held by minority group members) and practical implications (e.g., identifying race-based differences in representations of police that may affect community-police relations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:01461672
DOI:10.1177/0146167219898562