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Police officers and civilians as witnesses: intergroup biases and memory performance
Author(s) -
Lindholm Torun,
Christianson SvenÅke,
Karlsson Ingemar
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(199710)11:5<431::aid-acp470>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - psychology , ethnocentrism , witness , social psychology , parochialism , outgroup , criminology , law , political science , politics
To compare police officers and civilians with respect to intergroup biases and memory performance in a witness situation, two versions of a film with a simulated, violent robbery were shown to experienced police officers and civilians (university students and police recruits). The perpetrator was either an immigrant or a native Swede. Results showed that the police officers were less ethnocentric in their evaluations of the perpetrator than the civilians. Moreover, police officers showed higher accuracy in their recollections of crime‐relevant information 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 for crime‐relevant information. Policing experience may also result in reduced levels of psychological stress, giving police officers more room to form an individuated, rather than stereotypic, interpretation of the perpetrator's behaviour. Alternatively, it may be that police officers have become aware of biasing effects in the presence of outgroup members, and due to the social disapprobation such ethnocentric reactions can elicit, are more motivated to avoid or inhibit such expressions than civilians. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.