Taller respondents (proxy for formidability) are likelier to approve of police officers hitting male citizens in several circumstances, as well as corporal criminal-justice punishment in the form of the death penalty

Physical formidability and acceptance of police violence. R. Urbatsch. Evolution and Human Behavior, April 6 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2021.03.008

Abstract: Individuals whose threats of force are more effective, such as those with greater bodily formidability, have advantages when the social environment condones violence. This benefit shapes incentives regarding norms and preferences allowing aggressive behavior. More physically imposing people may, in particular, be likelier to approve of police use of violent tactics, one recent social flashpoint concerning attitudes to physical aggression. Archival data concerning more than 1600 respondents to the 2014 and 2018 iterations of the United States' General Social Survey confirm this hypothesis, with taller respondents (as the proxy for formidability) likelier to approve of police officers hitting male citizens in several circumstances, as well as corporal criminal-justice punishment in the form of the death penalty. Black respondents show less relationship between physical size and condoning of violent policing.

Keywords: ViolenceFormidabilityHeightLaw enforcementOpinionUnited States