Full metadata
Title
An affordance management, life history approach to perceptions of criminal behavior
Description
Why do social perceivers use race to infer a target's propensity for criminal behavior and likelihood of re-offense? Life history theory proposes that the harshness and unpredictability of one's environment shapes individuals' behavior, with harsh and unpredictable ("desperate") ecologies inducing "fast" life history strategies (characterized by present-focused behaviors), and resource-sufficient and stable ("hopeful") ecologies inducing "slow" life history strategies (characterized by future-focused behaviors). Social perceivers have an implicit understanding of the ways in which ecology shapes behavior, and use cues to ecology to infer a target's likely life history strategy. Additionally, because race is confounded with ecology in the United States, American perceivers use race as a heuristic cue to ecology, stereotyping Black individuals as possessing faster life history strategies than White individuals. In the current project, I proposed that many race stereotypes about propensity for criminality and recidivism actually reflect inferences of life history strategy, and thus track beliefs about the behavioral effects of ecology, rather than race. In a series of three studies, I explored the relationship between ecology, race, and perceptions of criminal behavior. Participants in each experiment were recruited through an online marketplace. Findings indicated that (1) stereotypes regarding likelihood to engage in specific crimes were largely driven by beliefs about the presumed ecology of the offender, rather than the offender's race, such that Black and White targets from desperate (and hopeful) ecologies were stereotyped as similarly likely (or unlikely) to commit a variety of crimes; (2) lay beliefs about recidivism predictors likewise reflected inferences of life history strategy, and thus also tracked ecology rather than race; (3) when evaluating whether to release a specific offender on parole, participants placed greater importance on ecology information as compared to race information in a point allocation task, and prioritized ecology information over race information in a ranking task. Taken together, these findings suggest that beliefs about criminality and recidivism may not be driven by race, per se, but instead reflect inferences of how one's ecology shapes behavior. Implications of these findings for understanding and reducing racial bias in the criminal justice system are discussed.
Date Created
2017
Contributors
- Williams, Keelah (Author)
- Neuberg, Steven L. (Thesis advisor)
- Saks, Michael J. (Thesis advisor)
- Becker, David V (Committee member)
- Kenrick, Douglas T. (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Topical Subject
- psychology
- Law
- affordance management
- criminality
- evolutionary psychology
- life history theory
- Recidivism
- Attribution (Social psychology)
- Race discrimination
- Discrimination in justice administration--Psychological aspects.
- Discrimination in justice administration
- Criminal behavior--Psychological aspects.
- Criminal behavior
Resource Type
Extent
vii, 126 pages : illustrations
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.44075
Statement of Responsibility
by Keelah Williams
Description Source
Viewed on October 25, 2017
Level of coding
full
Note
thesis
Partial requirement for: Ph. D., Arizona State University, 2017
bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 98-105)
Field of study: Psychology
System Created
- 2017-06-01 01:35:50
System Modified
- 2021-08-26 09:47:01
- 3 years 2 months ago
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