Legitimacy, Fast and Slow

• In Event: Advancing Legitimacy Theory VI

Abstract

This study examines how predictions derived from fairness heuristic theory (Lind & MacCoun, 1992) can be used to enhance legitimacy theory. Specifically, if individual assessments of officer behavior and procedural justice both serve as heuristics for intuitively judging overall police legitimacy, then individuals who are less cognitively reflective should be more sensitive to heuristic effects. Thus, these individuals should be more inclined to oversimplify police-civilian interactions and to base their overall attitudes toward police on situational fairness indicators. We use a sample of residents of a large city in the southwestern United States, gathered via a cross-sectional mail survey using an address based sampling (ABS) approach and a push-to-web strategy. Key constructs are assessed via traditional items and an experimental factorial survey vignette. The implications for both theoretical development and public policy are discussed.

Authors

• Sean Patrick Roche, Texas State University

• Angela M. Jones, Texas State University

• Madison K. Doyle, Texas State University

• Justin T. Pickett, University at Albany, SUNY