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.
AntonyM. G.ThomasR. J. (2010). “This is citizen journalism at its finest”: YouTube and the public sphere in the Oscar Grant shooting incident. New Media & Society, 12(8), 1280–1296. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444810362492
4.
AzevedoR. T.MacalusoE.AvenantiA.SantangeloV.CazzatoV.AgliotiS. M. (2013). Their pain is not our pain: Brain and autonomic correlates of empathic resonance with the pain of same and different race individuals. Human Brain Mapping, 34(12), 3168–3181. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22133
5.
BatsonC. D.PolycarpouM. P.Harmon-JonesE.ImhoffH. J.MitchenerE. C.BednarL. L.KleinT. R.HighbergerL. (1997). Empathy and attitudes: Can feeling for a member of a stigmatized group improve feelings toward the group?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(1), 105–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.72.1.105
6.
BonamC. M.Nair DasV.ColemanB. R.SalterP. (2019). Ignoring history, denying racism: Mounting evidence for the Marley hypothesis and epistemologies of ignorance. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(2), 257–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617751583
7.
BravemanP. A.ArkinE.ProctorD.KauhT.HolmN. (2022). Systemic and structural racism: Definitions, examples, health damages, and approaches to dismantling. Health Affairs, 41(2), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01394
8.
CarterJ. S.CorraM.JenksD. A. (2016). In the shadows of Ferguson: The role of racial resentment on white attitudes towards the use of force by police in the United States. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 11(2), 114–131.
9.
ChaoC.-L.WeiM.SpaniermanL.LongoJ.NorthartD. (2015). White racial attitudes and White empathy: The moderation of openness to diversity. The Counseling Psychologist, 43(1), 94–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000014546871
10.
CooleyE.Brown-IannuzziJ.CottrellD. (2019). Liberals perceive more racism than conservatives when police shoot Black men—But, reading about White privilege increases perceived racism, and shifts attributions of guilt, regardless of political ideology. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 85, 103885. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.103885
CrowstonK. (2012). Amazon Mechanical Turk: A research tool for organizations and information systems scholars. In BhattacherjeeA.FitzgeraldB. (Eds.), Shaping the future of ICT research. Methods and approaches. IFIP Advances in information and communication technology (Vo. 389, pp. 210–221). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35142-6_14
13.
CulhaneS. E.BomanJ. H.SchweitzerK. (2016). Public perceptions of the justifiability of police shootings: The role of body cameras in a pre- and post-Ferguson experiment. Police Quarterly, 19(3), 251–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098611116651403
14.
DavisM. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 44(1), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113
15.
DavisM. H. (1994). Empathy. A social psychological approach. Brown and Benchmark.
16.
DecetyJ.LammC. (2009). Empathy versus personal distress: Recent evidence from social neuroscience. In DecetyJ.IckesW. (Eds.), The social neuroscience of empathy (199–213). MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262012973.003.0016
17.
DiemerM. A.RapaL. J.VoightA. M.McWhirterE. H. (2016). Critical consciousness: A developmental approach to addressing marginalization and oppression. Child Development Perspectives, 10(4), 216–221. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12193
18.
DingF.LuZ. (2016). Association between empathy and prosocial behavior: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Advances in Psychological Science, 24(8), 1159–1174. https://doi.org/10.3724/SP.J.1042.2016.01159
19.
EdwardsE. R.MottarellaK. E. (2014). Preserving the right to a fair trial: An examination of prejudicial value of visual and auditory evidence. North American Journal of Psychology, 16, 397–414.
20.
FabiS.WeberL. A.LeutholdH. (2019). Empathic concern and personal distress depend on situational but not dispositional factors. PLOS ONE, 14(11), Article e0225102. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225102
21.
FaulF.ErdfelderE.BuchnerA.LangA.-G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 1149–1160.
22.
FeaginJ. (2006). Systemic racism. In FeaginJ. (Ed.), Systemic racism: A theory of oppression (pp. 295–324). Taylor & Francis Group.
23.
FinlayK. A.StephanW. G. (2000). Improving intergroup relations: The effects of empathy on racial attitudes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(8), 1720–1737. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02464.x
24.
FishfaderV. L.HowellsG. N.KatzR. C.TeresiP. S. (1996). Evidential and extralegal factors in juror decisions: Presentation mode, retention, and level of emotionality. Law and Human Behavior, 20, 565–572. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01499042
25.
ForgiariniM.GallucciM.MaravitaA. (2011). Racism and the empathy for pain on our skin. Frontiers in Psychology, 2, Article 108. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00108
26.
FourieM. M.SubramoneyS.Gobodo-MadikizelaP. (2017). A less attractive feature of empathy: Intergroup empathy bias. In KondoM. (Ed.), Empathy: An evidence based interdisciplinary perspective (pp. 45–61). INTECH.
27.
FreireP. (1971). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Seabury Press.
28.
GreenE. G.StaerkléC.SearsD. O. (2006). Symbolic racism and Whites’ attitudes towards punitive and preventive crime policies. Law and Human Behavior, 30(4), 435–454. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-006-9020-5
29.
GutsellJ. N.InzlichtM. (2010). Empathy constrained: Prejudice predicts reduced mental simulation of actions during observation of outgroups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(5), 841–845. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.03.011
30.
HassonY.TamirM.BrahmsK. S.CohrsJ. C.HalperinE. (2018). Are liberals and conservatives equally motivated to feel empathy toward others?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(10), 1449–1459. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218769867
31.
HayesA. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.
32.
HeinG.SilaniG.PreuschoffK.BatsonC. D.SingerT. (2010). Neural responses to ingroup and outgroup members’ suffering predict individual differences in costly helping. Neuron, 68(1), 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2010.09.003
HothornT.BretzF.WestfallP. (2008). Simultaneous inference in general parametric models. Biometrical Journal, 50(3), 346. https://doi.org/10.1002/bimj.200810425
35.
InzlichtM.GutsellJ. N.LegaultL. (2012). Mimicry reduces racial prejudice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 361–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.06.007
36.
JohnsonD. (2007). Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 Birmingham Campaign as Image Event. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 10(1), 1–25.https://doi.org/10.1353/rap.2007.0023.
JohnsonJ.LecciL. (2020). How caring is “nullified”: Strong racial identity eliminates White participant empathy effects when police shoot an unarmed Black male. Psychology of Violence, 10(1), 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000228
39.
KamC. D.BurgeC. D. (2018). Uncovering reactions to the racial resentment scale across the racial divide. The Journal of Politics, 80(1), 314–320. https://doi.org/10.1086/693907
LebowitzM. S.DovidioJ. F. (2015). Implications of emotion regulation strategies for empathic concern, social attitudes, and helping behavior. Emotion, 15(2), 187–194. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038820
LevinM. E.LuomaJ. B.VilardagaR.LillisJ.NoblesR.HayesS. C. (2016). Examining the role of psychological inflexibility, perspective taking, and empathic concern in generalized prejudice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(3), 180–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12355
MartínM. E.De la Fuente SánchezM. L.FuenteE.GarcíaJ. (2007). The influence of sample type, presentation format and strength of evidence on juror simulation research. Psychology Crime & Law, 13, 139–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/10683160500537431
46.
MatsuedaR. L.DrakulichK. (2009). Perceptions of criminal injustice, symbolic racism, and racial politics. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 623(1), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716208330500
47.
McDowellM. G.FernandezL. A. (2018). “Disband, disempower, and disarm”: Amplifying the theory and practice of police abolition. Critical Criminology, 26, 373–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-018-9400-4
48.
McGowenE. B.WylieK. N. (2020). Racialized differences in perceptions of and emotional responses to police killings of unarmed African Americans. Politics, Groups, and Identities, 8(2), 396–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/21565503.2020.1757805
MekawiY.BresinK.HunterC. D. (2016). White fear, dehumanization, and low empathy: Lethal combinations for shooting biases. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 22(3), 322–332. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000067
51.
NelsonJ. C.AdamsG.SalterP. S. (2013). The marley hypothesis: Denial of racism reflects ignorance of history. Psychological Science, 24(2), 213–218. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612451466
52.
RabinowitzJ. L.SearsD. O.SidaniusJ.KrosnickJ. A. (2009). Why do White Americans oppose race-targeted policies? Clarifying the impact of symbolic racism. Political Psychology, 30(5), 805–828. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00726.x
53.
RapaL. J.BoldingC. W.JamilF. M. (2020). Development and initial validation of the short Critical Consciousness Scale (CCS-S). Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 70, Article 101164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2020.101164
54.
ReinkaM. A.LeachC. W. (2017). Race and reaction: Divergent views of police violence and protest against. Journal of Social Issues, 73(4), 768–788. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12247
SearsD. O.HenryP. J. (2005). Over thirty years later: A contemporary look at symbolic racism. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 37, pp. 95–150). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(05)37002-X
58.
SelvanathanH. P.TechakesariP.TroppL.BarlowF. (2017). Whites for racial justice: How contact with Black Americans predicts support for collective action among White Americans. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 21(6), 893–912. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430217690908
59.
SpaniermanL. B.HeppnerM. J. (2004). Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites Scale (PCRW): Construction and initial validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(2), 249–262. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.51.2.249
60.
StephanW. G.FinlayK. (1999). The role of empathy in improving intergroup relations. Journal of Social Issues, 55(4), 729–743. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00144
TettegahS. Y. (2016). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Color-blind racial ideology and lack of empathy. In The myth of racial color blindness: Manifestations, dynamics, and impact (pp. 175–190). https://doi.org/10.1037/14754-011
63.
ThomasE. F.McGartyC.MavorK. I. (2009). Transforming “apathy into movement”: The role of prosocial emotions in motivating action for social change. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13(4), 310–333. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309343290
64.
VenablesW. N.RipleyB. D. (2002). Modern applied statistics with S (4th ed.). Springer.
WilliamsS. N.ClarkeA. V. (2019). How the desensitization of police violence, stereotyped language, and racial bias impact Black communities. Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Open Journal, 5(2), 62–67. https://doi.org/10.17140/PCSOJ-5-151
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
