The Effect of Police Uniform on Interpersonal Perception

Abstract

ABSTRACT Three groups of female college students were shown three different photographs of the same police officers—one photograph of the face only and two full-length ones of the officers dressed in either civilian clothing or police uniform. We hypothesized that subjects' perceptions of the police officers in uniform would differ from their perceptions of the officers in the other two conditions. Subjects' perceptions were measured by a semantic differential rating scale. The results supported the hypothesis on several semantic differential dimensions. Police officers photographed in their uniforms were perceived as more competent, more reliable, more intelligent, and more helpful than when they were photographed in either of the other two conditions.