ASSESSING BIAS IN THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SCREENING OF POLICE RECRUITS

This study assesses bias in psychological screening of applicants for police training based on interviews with black and white male applican ts by psychologists whose identity varied by race and gender. The resu lts showed little evidence of racial bias in that, over all, psycholog ists tended to agree on decisions, indicating no pattern of rejection of black candidates by white interviewers. In only two instances were the psychologists not in agreement: 1) the black female psychologist w as the only interviewer to show significantly higher rejection of blac k applicants and 2) the white male-female psychologists pair was the o nly duo which failed to significantly agree on acceptability of white applicants. However, neither of these findings indicated racial bias. Implications for future research are discussed.