POLICE OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS AS WITNESSES - INTERGROUP BIASES AND MEMORY PERFORMANCE

Citation
T. Lindholm et al., POLICE OFFICERS AND CIVILIANS AS WITNESSES - INTERGROUP BIASES AND MEMORY PERFORMANCE, Applied cognitive psychology, 11(5), 1997, pp. 431-444
Citations number
31
Categorie Soggetti
Psychology, Experimental
ISSN journal
08884080
Volume
11
Issue
5
Year of publication
1997
Pages
431 - 444
Database
ISI
SICI code
0888-4080(1997)11:5<431:POACAW>2.0.ZU;2-D
Abstract
To compare police officers and civilians with respect to intergroup bi ases and memory performance in a witness situation, two versions of a film with a simulated, violent robbery were shown to experienced polic e officers and civilians (university students and police recruits). Th e perpetrator was either an immigrant or a native Swede. Results showe d that the police officers were less ethnocentric in their evaluations of the perpetrator than the civilians. Moreover, police officers show ed higher accuracy in their recollections of crime-relevant informatio n in the film. It is suggested that police officers' knowledge of, and experience with, crime incidents helps them to sort out the relevant information in the situation, and this in turn enhances their memory f or crime-relevant information. Policing experience may also result in reduced levels of psychological stress, giving police officers more ro om to form an individuated, rather than stereotypic, interpretation of the perpetrator's behaviour. Alternatively, it may be that police off icers have become aware of biasing effects in the presence of outgroup members, and due to the social disapprobation such ethnocentric react ions can elicit, are more motivated to avoider inhibit such expression s than civilians. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.