Using the two-dimensional model (Son Hing et al., 2008) of prejudice as a guide, we sampled 10,522 people to examine the geographic distribution of prejudice toward African Americans in the United States. We found the East South Central, West South Central, and South Atlantic regions were associated with modern racism (MR), principled conservatism (PC) characterized the Mountain region, aversive racism (AR) was prevalent in the East North Central region, and finally, truly low in prejudice (TLP) was found in the Pacific, West North Central, Mid Atlantic, and New England regions. Consistent with the two-dimensional model, those high in MR and PC self-identified as more politically conservative than those high in AR or TLP. On social conservatism, MR scored higher than AR, and AR and PC were higher than TLP. In addition, MR scored lower in egalitarianism than AR, while PC and AR scored lower in egalitarianism than TLP. However, contrary to the two-dimensional model, MR and PC did not differ on egalitarianism or social conservatism. Therefore, results generally supported the distinctions made by the two-dimensional model, although further investigations are needed to determine whether there is sufficient theoretical justification for distinguishing MR and PC. This preliminary mapping of the different types of prejudice toward African Americans provides researchers with a tool to test theoretical differences between unique types of prejudice and examine multiple outcomes related to regional prejudice. Given that regional prejudice can be identified, prejudice reduction efforts may benefit from targeting both the individual and the community.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been an increasing number of hate crimes perpetrated against Chinese and non-Chinese Asian Americans. Some hate incidents suggest that Chinese Asian Americans have been mainly targeted followed by non-Chinese Asian Americans. The present study examined the influence of victim Chinese phenotypicality (CP) and participant individual differences on COVID-19-related prejudice and discrimination. Participants were presented with a mock news story detailing a restaurant employee (varying in CP) who tested positive for COVID-19 but went to work despite warnings to quarantine and allegedly spread COVID-19 to other employees and customers. CP was manipulated through photographs embedded within the mock news story of the employee (White (control) vs. Low CP vs. High CP). After reading the news story, participants completed measures of prejudice and discrimination endorsement along with measures of individual differences. Results revealed that CP influenced prejudice and support for discrimination, but only for individuals with certain characteristics (e.g., low income). The findings highlight individual difference characteristics among perpetrators of prejudice and discrimination against Asian Americans, in addition to phenotypic variations among those who may be victims of hate related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Past studies on the “civilizing” effect of body-worn cameras (BWC) on police and civilian behavior have yielded mixed results. Some studies have shown a reduction in the use of force reports (e.g., Ariel et al., 2015 ) and civilian complaints ( Hedberg et al., 2017 ) as a result of officers utilizing BWCs. However, other studies have found null effects (e.g., Yokum et al., 2017 ) or even the opposite findings (i.e., increases in use of force reports; Ariel et al., 2016a ). In the current review, we aim to reconcile these inconsistencies by discussing psychological factors (i.e., police attitudes toward BWCs, civilian attitudes toward the police, geographic psychology, officer perceptions of self-legitimacy, and civilian stress) that may moderate the civilizing effect of BWCs. We also highlight the methodological issues (i.e., contamination, unit of analysis, and low base rates) that have burdened past studies involving field experiments and advocate for the use of multiple methods to strengthen any existing weaknesses in the literature. Overall, we argue for a closer examination of individual-level psychological factors and the use of multiple methods to help elucidate the ambiguities concerning the “civilizing” effect found in the BWC literature.

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