Black Americans, relative to White Americans, generate images of police officers’ faces that are more negative, less positive, & more dominant

Good Cop, Bad Cop: Race-Based Differences in Mental Representations of Police. E. Paige Lloyd et al. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, January 16, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219898562

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).

Keywords: person perception, intergroup relations, prejudice/stereotyping, social cognition


From Good Cop Bad Cop Methodology https://osf.io/hyfnk/

Study 1
Face rating dimensions:
“Please rate the person picture above on the following dimensions:”
Traits: (presented in random order)
How friendly does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How warm does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How empathetic does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How fearful does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How hostile does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How dominant does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How dominant does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How authoritative does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How powerful does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)

Study 2
Face rating instructions:
“Thank You for participating in today's experiment!
In this study, we are interested in people's perceptions of different groups. You will be presented with
blurry face images and you will be asked to rate those images on a variety of traits.
Although these faces may seem similar, they are not identical. There are subtle differences. Please judge
each face independent of the previous. Past research indicates that even in these blurry faces people are
quite accurate in identifying characteristics and qualities about the person.
Please click continue.”

Face rating dimensions:
“Please rate the person picture above on the following dimensions:”
Traits: (presented in random order)
How friendly does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How warm does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How empathetic does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How fearful does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How hostile does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How dominant does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How dominant does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How authoritative does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How powerful does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
Group membership: (presented in order shown below)
How Eurocentric (White) does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How Afrocentric (Black) does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How feminine does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How masculine does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)

Study 3
Face rating instructions:
“In this study, we are interested in people's perceptions of different individuals. You will be presented
with one blurry face and a scenario. The face you see will be randomly selected. Pay close attention to
cues in the face, imagine yourself in the scenario, and then respond to the questions.
Please click continue.”

Imagined scenario instructions:
“Look carefully at the face above and imagine the following scenario:
You're walking home alone at night when the person pictured above says to stop walking. They are a
police officer. They are armed. They begin to approach you. To your knowledge you are doing nothing
wrong and are breaking no laws.
Feelings of anxiety measure: (presented in random order)
How tense would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How frightened would feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How anxious would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How scared would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How worried would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How safe would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How at ease would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How relaxed would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How protected would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How comfortable would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
Fight-and-flight behavioral intentions measure: (presented in random order)
“Again look carefully at the face above and continue to imagine the scenario.”
To what extent would you be preparing to physically defend yourself, in case it became
necessary? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
To what extent would you be preparing to run away, in case it became necessary? (1=Not at all,
9=Extremely)
Quantity and quality of contact with police questionnaire:
5.
How much contact have you had with police officers? (1=None, 7=A great deal)
6.
How positive has your contact with police been? (1=Not at all positive, 7=Extremely positive)
7.
How many police officers do you know? (1=None, 7=Know a lot)
8.
How well do you know those police officers (1=Do not know those officers well, 7=Know those
officers very well)



Attitudes toward police questionnaire:

7.
To what extent do you feel police officers listen to community members and understand the
issues that affect your community? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
8.
To what extent are polices officers effective at fighting crime? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
9.
To what extent do you feel police officers listen to community members and understand the
issues that affect your community? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
10.
To what extent do you feel police officers try to treat people fairly regardless of who they are?
(1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
11.
To what extent do you feel police officers can be relied on to be there when you need them?
(1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
12.
To what extent do you trust police officers to make decisions that are good for everyone in your
community? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)

Study 4
Face rating instructions:
“In this study, we are interested in people's perceptions of different groups. You will be presented with 2
images of blurry faces and you will be asked to rate those images on a variety of traits.
Although these faces may seem similar, they are not identical. There are subtle differences. Please judge
each face independent of the previous. Past research indicates that even in these blurry faces people are
quite accurate in identifying characteristics and qualities about the person.
Please click continue.”

Face rating dimensions:
“Please rate the person picture above on the following dimensions:”
Traits: (presented in random order)
How friendly does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How warm does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How empathetic does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How fearful does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How hostile does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How dominant does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How dominant does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How authoritative does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How powerful does this person appear? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
Imagined scenario instructions:
“Look carefully at the face above and imagine the following scenario:
You're walking home alone at night when the person pictured above says to stop walking. They are a
police officer. They are armed. They begin to approach you. To your knowledge you are doing nothing
wrong and are breaking no laws.
Feelings of anxiety measure: (presented in random order)
How tense would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How frightened would feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How anxious would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How scared would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How worried would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How safe would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How at ease would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How relaxed would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How protected would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
How comfortable would you feel? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)

Fight-and-flight behavioral intentions measure: (presented in random order)
“Again look carefully at the face above and again imagine the scenario.
You're walking home alone at night when the person pictured above says to stop walking. They
are a police officer. They are armed. They begin to approach you. To your knowledge you are
doing nothing wrong and are breaking no laws.”
To what extent would you be preparing to physically defend yourself, in case it became
necessary? (1=Not at all, 9=Extremely)
To what extent would you be preparing to run away, in case it became necessary? (1=Not at all,
9=Extremely)
Quantity and quality of contact with police questionnaire:
9.
How much contact have you had with police officers? (1=None, 7=A great deal)
10.
How positive has your contact with police been? (1=Not at all positive, 7=Extremely positive)
11.
How many police officers do you know? (1=None, 7=Know a lot)
12.
How well do you know those police officers (1=Do not know those officers well, 7=Know those
officers very well)
Attitudes toward police questionnaire:
13.
To what extent do you feel police officers listen to community members and understand the
issues that affect your community? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
14.
To what extent are polices officers effective at fighting crime? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
15.
To what extent do you feel police officers listen to community members and understand the
issues that affect your community? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
16.
To what extent do you feel police officers try to treat people fairly regardless of who they are?
(1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
17.
To what extent do you feel police officers can be relied on to be there when you need them?
(1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)
18.
To what extent do you trust police officers to make decisions that are good for everyone in your
community? (1=Not at all, 7=Extremely)