Construction and Validation of the Racially Biased Reasoning Scale: A Measure of Beliefs About Police Interactions With People of Color

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop and provide initial psychometric support for the Racially Biased Reasoning Scale—Police (RBias—Police). The vignette-based RBias—Police is designed to capture rigid racially biased beliefs. The items focus on police interactions with people of color as this is a particularly emotional-laden issue in the United States that signifies deeper racial and social intolerance. Method: Data from a combined sample of 1,156 participants were collected through Mechanical Turk for two interrelated studies. In the first study, we used matrix sampling and exploratory structural equation modeling to explore the factor structure of RBias—Police. In the second study, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis and explored the construct validity with theoretically relevant concepts. Results: In Study 1, we found that 10 items with three factors solution captured the data across each of the six vignettes: (a) Minimization of Racism, (b) Target Apathy, and (c) Target Blaming. In Study 2, findings from confirmatory factor analysis supported that the three-factor model was a good fit to the data. The RBias—Police factors were positively related to color-blind racial ideology and the general belief in a just world in theoretically expected ways. Conclusions: Across two studies, our findings provide initial psychometric support for the RBias—Police; this new measure captures both affective and cognitive dimensions of biased reasoning.