FORMATION OF PROCEDURAL BELIEFS ABOUT LEGAL ARENAS - DO PEOPLE GENERALIZE FROM LOOSELY RELATED PAST LEGAL EXPERIENCES

Few studies have addressed how people develop beliefs about legal auth orities' neutrality and fairness. Using a cross-sectional survey of ta xpayers (N = 147), this study examines the sources and processes under lying the formation of these beliefs. Controlling for significant cont ributions of media stories about audits and past audit experiences, pa st loosely related negative legal events (traffic court) also shape pe rceptions that tax auditors are more biased and unfair. Information ab out police officers exchanged in conversations also creates perception s that tax auditors are more biased. These generalization effects occu r only when people do not have prior direct experience with tax audito rs. For taxpayers with prior audit experience, positive experiences ar e related to more positive perceptions of auditors and media stories a bout tax audits produce more negative perceptions. The findings sugges t that positive and negative past experiences shape beliefs only when they disconfirm prior perceptions based on imagination or indirect sou rces. Implications and future research directions are discussed.