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Gender Differences in Attitudes Toward Police Use of Tasers Following the Dziekanski Case
Author(s) -
Mandel David R.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
analyses of social issues and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1530-2415
pISSN - 1529-7489
DOI - 10.1111/asap.12022
Subject(s) - psychology , blame , social psychology , interpersonal communication , cognition , clinical psychology , psychiatry
Prior research has shown that men and women respond differently on a variety of behavioral, attitudinal, and affective measures related to agentic and communal interpersonal orientation, yet research on such measures seldom disaggregates findings by gender. The present study examined how gender moderated a range of affective and cognitive responses to an important social and policy issue—police use of Tasers. The study followed the Dziekanski case in which an émigré to Canada died after being repeatedly stunned with a Taser by police officers. Compared to men, women were significantly more opposed to police Taser use, they were likelier to blame police for Dziekanski's death, and they reported stronger emotional responses to the case. The findings extend support for the view that men and women exhibit different patterns of response to situations that evoke communal values, and they highlight the importance of theoretical guidance in disaggregating responses in opinion research.