Description
Police officers in America interact with civilians on a daily basis as function of their job, and the way people perceive police officers can either help or hurt officers in performance of their duties. I conducted an experiment to test whether people perceive a police officer’s use of force differently depending on the officer’s race and gender. First, when an officer uses force, I propose competing hypotheses that a female officer will be viewed as less favorable than a male officer; however, because female aggression is less expected, I also predict that they will be viewed as more favorable than male officers. Second, when an officer uses force, I predict that a Black officer will be viewed as more aggressive than a White Officer. Lastly, I predict that perceptions of the officer (i.e., perceived aggression and emotional reactivity) would mediate the relationship between officer gender and attitudes towards the officer. Using an experimental survey design with a video of a police-civilian interaction, I found support that female officers were viewed more favorably than male officers when force was used. I found no support that Black officers would be viewed as more aggressive than White officers. Lastly, I found partial support that perceptions of the officer mediated the relationship between officer gender and attitudes towards the officer.
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Details
Title
- Perceptions of officers who use force in police-civilian interactions
Contributors
- Sanchez, Manuel Justin (Author)
- Salerno, Jessica M (Thesis advisor)
- Schweitzer, Nicholas J (Committee member)
- Hall, Deborah L. (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2017
Subjects
Resource Type
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Note
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thesisPartial requirement for: M.S., Arizona State University, 2017
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bibliographyIncludes bibliographical references (pages 33-36)
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Field of study: Psychology
Citation and reuse
Statement of Responsibility
by Manuel Justin Sanchez