VicariousViews: Attitudes and Social Media Reactions to a Vehicular Pursuit Video

• In Event: Posters II

Abstract

Online backlash and counter-narratives that directly challenge police behavior are becoming increasingly common and more people are using social media for their daily news. For example, 63% of people use Facebook and Twitter as their primary news source (PEW Research Center, 2015). In the current study, college students viewed a video of a high-speed chase recorded from the perspective of an officer’s body camera. Participants then created a hashtag and indicated how they would respond to the video via social media. Given that personal involvement and accountability have been implicated in motivation and concern with accuracy (Petty, Cacioppo & Goldman, 1981; Tetlock, 1983), we randomly assigned half of the participants to wear a badge and/or duty belt to illicit the subjective experience of a police officer. We also asked about their personal experiences with law enforcement. Our results replicated previous research in that more personal involvement (Bridenball & Jesilow, 2008; Rosenbaum, et al., 2005), higher scores for authoritarianism, belief in a just world (Martin & Cohn, 2004), and lower scores in trait anger (Jackson, 2013), were linked to positive attitudes towards police and the video (Oliver, 1996), and less sympathy for the pursued driver (Feather, 1996).

Authors

• Laura Hunt, Bridgewater State University

• Holly Ann Lonergan, Bridgewater State University

• Elizabeth Spievak, Bridgewater State University