"It's like we are seen as animals": The relationship between Black people's encounters with the police, metadehumanization, and perceptions of police legitimacy.

Abstract

Objective: Across two studies, we explored the relationship between Black civilians' encounters with the police, their attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police legitimacy, and metadehumanization perceptions. We predicted the more negative Black individuals' encounters with the police, the more unfavorable their views of police would be (attitudes and perceived legitimacy) and the more likely they would believe police believe Black people are less than human. We further hypothesized that the relationships between Black Americans negative counters with the police and their views of the police would be mediated by metadehumanization.

Method: Black Americans (N = 522, M_age = 35.85) were either asked about the quality of their interactions with police (Study 1) or randomly assigned to write about a positive, negative, or neutral encounter with police (Study 2). They completed attitudes toward the police and police legitimacy and metadehumanization measures.

Results: Study 1 found the more negative Black individuals' encounters with the police were, the more negative their views were toward police and the more they believed police saw them as less than human. This relationship was partially mediated by metadehumanization. Study 2 demonstrated a causal relationship between negative police encounters and negative perceptions of the police; however, metadehumanization only partially mediated this relationship.

Conclusion: Negative encounters with the police may have lasting negative implications on Black citizens' perceptions of legitimacy but more research is necessary regarding the role of metadehumanization perceptions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).