Improving Officer Decision-Making: Can Personality Predict Outcomes in Use of Force Decisions? North Carolina and South Carolina, 2018-2020

The current study sought to examine the impact of select psychological, cognitive, professional experience and social network factors on police officers' decisions to use force. Additionally, the study examined the impact of a brief citizen education intervention (i.e. the completion of police officer training simulations) on citizens' attitudes toward police and use of force. All
participants completed three training scenarios inside a firearms training
simulator.
A sample of law enforcement officers and civilians took part in the study. Participants completed a series of questionnaires designed to measure, among other things:

Positive and Negative Emotionality
Need for Cognition
Cognitive Reflection
Professional experiences as a police officer (law enforcement participants only)
Size of friendship networks within the workplace (law enforcement participants only)
Perceptions of how their friendship networks would be impacted if
the participant were to use excessive force (law enforcement participants
only)
Pre-post measures of attitudes toward police (civilian participants only)