An exploratory investigation of the convergent validity of measures implicit and explicit bias, the CPI, and the MMPI-3 among police officers
Presentation Type
Abstract
Faculty Advisor
Christopher King
Access Type
Event
Start Date
25-4-2025 12:00 PM
End Date
25-4-2025 1:00 PM
Description
There have been calls and directives for increased attention to the assessment of bias and intolerance among police officer candidates. However, there remains very little research that has examined implicit and explicit biases within the specific context of police personnel selection. Participants (N = 77) were candidates for police officer positions undergoing a pre-employment psychological evaluation who completed an online survey of demographics questions, two explicit bias measures (self-report measures of attitudes toward African Americans and toward racial and ethnic diversity in the United States), and an implicit bias measure (the Race Implicit Association Test). Survey data were combined with scale scores from two personality tests administered as part of participants’ pre-employment evaluations. Correlational analyses were used to explore convergent validity among measures. Interim results indicated that the two explicit bias measures were strongly related, whereas the implicit bias measure did not relate to these measures. Conceptually, this may be due to their differential methods (i.e., self-report vs. performance-based). One of the explicit bias measures exhibited minimal convergent validity with the two personality measures whereas the other related to a wide range of scales on one of the personality measures. The implicit bias measure, in turn, exhibited several relationships with the two personality measures. Data collection for the current study is ongoing toward increased power and precision for effects. The preliminary findings are promising in terms of personality test usage as convergent evidence for potential bias and prejudice in prospective police officers, though more research is clearly needed.
An exploratory investigation of the convergent validity of measures implicit and explicit bias, the CPI, and the MMPI-3 among police officers
There have been calls and directives for increased attention to the assessment of bias and intolerance among police officer candidates. However, there remains very little research that has examined implicit and explicit biases within the specific context of police personnel selection. Participants (N = 77) were candidates for police officer positions undergoing a pre-employment psychological evaluation who completed an online survey of demographics questions, two explicit bias measures (self-report measures of attitudes toward African Americans and toward racial and ethnic diversity in the United States), and an implicit bias measure (the Race Implicit Association Test). Survey data were combined with scale scores from two personality tests administered as part of participants’ pre-employment evaluations. Correlational analyses were used to explore convergent validity among measures. Interim results indicated that the two explicit bias measures were strongly related, whereas the implicit bias measure did not relate to these measures. Conceptually, this may be due to their differential methods (i.e., self-report vs. performance-based). One of the explicit bias measures exhibited minimal convergent validity with the two personality measures whereas the other related to a wide range of scales on one of the personality measures. The implicit bias measure, in turn, exhibited several relationships with the two personality measures. Data collection for the current study is ongoing toward increased power and precision for effects. The preliminary findings are promising in terms of personality test usage as convergent evidence for potential bias and prejudice in prospective police officers, though more research is clearly needed.
Comments
Poster presentation at the 2025 Student Research Symposium.