“It’s like we are seen as animals”: The relationship between Black people’s encounters with the police, metadehumanization, and perceptions of police legitimacy.

Across two studies, we explored the relationship between Black civilians' encounters with the police, their attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police legitimacy, and metadehumanization perceptions. We predicted the more negative Black individuals' encounters with the police, the more unfavorable their views of police would be (attitudes and perceived legitimacy) and the more likely they would believe police believe Black people are less than human. We further hypothesized that the relationships between Black Americans negative counters with the police and their views of the police would be mediated by metadehumanization.