Citation

Bart-Plange DJ, Trawalter S. Person. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/01461672241237286

PMID

38544411

Abstract

The police kill Black Americans at disproportionate rates. Despite this, White Americans remain mixed on support for policing-related policy reform. We examined whether bearing witness to police violence leads to support for policy reforms. Across three studies (N = 943), White participants either viewed a news video about an unarmed Black man killed at the hands of police or in a car accident due to a collision with another driver. Participants lower but not higher in symbolic racism reported more empathy after viewing a police shooting (vs. car accident) news video (Studies 1-3). Empathy predicted policing-related policy reform support (Studies 1-3) and mediated the relationship between condition and policy reform support (Studies 1 and 3), among those lower in symbolic racism (Studies 1-2).

RESULTS suggest that empathy for Black victims of police violence predicts policy support but only among those who recognize that such violence is systemic in nature.

Language: en

Keywords

intergroup empathy; racism; systemic racism; violence