In class the other day, Andrew put a statistic on the board saying how 94% of college professors think they are better than the average teacher. I didn’t think anything of it until I got back to my dorm later and started wondering if that sort of thing actually happens. We all know that some people think that they are better than others, but how true can that actually be? Do cops think they are better than everyone else?
Looking at the topic in the most basic way, prisoner verses prison guard; the popular Stanford Prison Experiment studied the effects prisons have on human behavior. The null hypothesis in this situation was that prison guards didn’t treat the inmates badly. To prove this wrong, male college students volunteered and the participants were randomly placed into the role of a guard (experimental group) or a prisoner (control group). The prisoners were “arrested” and given the typical prisoner clothing, while the guards were given khakis, sunglasses and handcuffs. Within hours of becoming their new persons, guards began harassing prisoners, taunted, and given useless tasks. Eventually the guards became aggressive which lead to ending the experiment a week early. Zimbardo, the creator of the experiment, concluded that the men in the guard position changed their behavior to act as a stereotypical guard. The experiment showed how when you are around people your age, and they are in a higher position than you are, they will act like they are better and you will see them as higher, and more respectful because of what they look like.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was an observational study without confounding factors because prior to the experiment, each person was tested to ensure their mental standings. This experiment was ruled as unethical by the American Psychology Association preventing any other experiment like this to be conducted in this manor.
Unfortunately, I cannot find any other studies that test the arrogance of cops. If I were to do an experiment I would observe the behaviors of the police towards people they pull over, or encounter throughout the day. I would do this by randomly selecting people and shifts to follow, placing a camera in their cars because I feel that if my presence was there they may change their attitude towards situations, which would be a confounding variable. I would follow these people around for a couple days and mark when I thought that they were acting as if they were better than the people around them, which could lead to biased opinions. My null hypothesis would be that the police would not act arrogant.
Interesting article concerning police. They are definitely getting their fair share of attention on today’s media. Your proposed experiment sounds like it could acquire worthy results but it does kind of seem a little unethical. Even if you weren’t around, the presence of the cameras could change their behavior towards people they pull over as they know they are still being recorded. And if you were to put cameras on their police cars without their knowledge, that would seem a little unethical. Saying that, I think police should be required to wear body cameras in order to limit/monitor police harassment and abuse of power. Read this cool article about what an average police officer has to go through in his/her day.