Abstract

The criminalization hypothesis states that due to the deinstitutionalization of mental health patients and lack of available care, law enforcement officers (LEO) are interacting with people with mental illness (PWMI) more often. However, there is a lack of research regarding LEO attitudes towards PWMI. This study measures implicit and explicit bias along with levels of empathy prospective LEO hold towards mental illness. Participants completed the Go-No-Go Association Task and a survey. Results suggested that participants viewed PWMI as unpredictable, but did not hold fear/avoidance, malevolence, or authoritarian views towards PWMI. Participants did not hold negative implicit bias towards PWMI, nor did implicit bias scores predict explicit bias scores. Empathy, however, was significantly negatively correlated with explicit bias scores, and was a significant predictor of explicit bias. Participants who scored lower on empathy scored higher on explicit bias, while participants with higher empathy scores scored lower on explicit bias.

摘要

刑事定罪假说指出，由于精神健康患者的去机构化和缺乏可用的护理，执法人员 (LEO) 与精神疾病患者 (PWMI) 的互动更为频繁。然而，缺乏关于 LEO 对 PWMI 态度的研究。本研究测量内隐和外显偏见以及未来 LEO 对精神疾病的同理心水平。参与者完成了 Go-No-Go Association 任务和一项调查。结果表明参与者认为 PWMI 不可预测，但对 PWMI 没有恐惧/回避、恶意或专制观点。参与者对 PWMI 没有负隐性偏见，隐性偏见分数也没有预测显性偏见分数。然而，同理心与显性偏见分数显着负相关，并且是显性偏见的重要预测指标。同理心得分较低的参与者在外显偏见上得分较高，而同理心得分较高的参与者在外显偏见上得分较低。