STUDIES:   

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“Police officers communicate with White and Black citi- zens in divergent ways. White men in our stimulus set experienced more friendly and respectful prosody than Black men."

The Thin Blue Waveform: Racial Disparities in Officer Prosody Undermine Institutional Trust in the Police The Thin Blue Waveform: Racial Disparities in Officer Prosody Undermine Institutional Trust in the Police Our primary question of interest was whether officers’ tone communicated more positive interpersonal treatment—less tense, more friendly, and more respectful—toward White men than Black men. Participants indicated that they were able to rate offi- cer speech on the provided dimensions in 96.5% of trials. Partici- pants’ scale ratings were combined by averaging scores on these dimensions into a single index of perceived officer treatment (a = .84). Here, we present a pooled analysis of officer prosody from these samples (N = 412 participants), with additional analyses for each study detailed in the online supplemental materials. Our primary question of interest was whether officers’ tone communicated more positive interpersonal treatment—less tense, more friendly, and more respectful—toward White men than Black men. Participants indicated that they were able to rate offi- cer speech on the provided dimensions in 96.5% of trials. Partici- pants’ scale ratings were combined by averaging scores on these dimensions into a single index of perceived officer treatment (a = .84). Here, we present a pooled analysis of officer prosody from these samples (N = 412 participants), with additional analyses for each study detailed in the online supplemental materials.
The Thin Blue Waveform: Racial Disparities in Officer Prosody Undermine Institutional Trust in the Police
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition
Camp, Nicholas P. / Voigt, Rob / Jurafsky, Dan / Eberhardt, Jennifer L.
in Press, 2021
10.1037/pspa0000270
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