Professional Orientation and Pluralistic Ignorance Among Jail Correctional Officers

Abstract

Research about the attitudes and beliefs of correctional officers has historically been conducted in prison facilities while ignoring jail settings. This study contributes to our understanding of correctional officers by examining the perceptions of those who work in jails, specifically measuring professional orientations about counseling roles, punitiveness, corruption of authority by inmates, and social distance from inmates. The study also examines whether officers are accurate in estimating these same perceptions of their peers, a line of inquiry that has been relatively ignored. Findings indicate that the sample was concerned about various aspects of their job and the management of inmates. Specifically, officers were uncertain about adopting counseling roles, were somewhat punitive, and were concerned both with maintaining social distance from inmates and with an inmate's ability to corrupt their authority. Officers also misperceived the professional orientation of their fellow officers and assumed their peer group to be less progressive than they actually were.

Correcting the “Correctional” Component of the Corrections Officer Role: How Offender Custodians Can Contribute to Rehabilitation and Reintegration

“…The second reason all staff should receive the same training is to allow corrections officers to exercise rehabilitative practices without fearing the reactions of other staff. Cook and Lane (2014) discovered that corrections officers misperceive the professional orientation of their colleagues, often assuming that other officers are far more punitive and less in favor of treatment than what they actually are. These misjudgments will affect the work behaviors of corrections staff if they worry that their expression of pro-rehabilitation values will be chastised by other line staff.…”

The impact of pluralistic ignorance on the provision of health care for people who inject drugs

“…Pluralistic ignorance (Katz and Allport, 1931) occurs when group members erroneously believe that their privately held attitudes differ from the majority of their peers. For example, a recent study among correctional officers demonstrates pluralistic ignorance whereby correctional officers believe their colleagues are more punitive and less accepting of prisoners than they are (Cook and Lane, 2013). Erroneous beliefs about the attitudes of others can be important, as these presumed beliefs have been shown to impact behavior in a variety of situations.…”

Pluralistic Ignorance Research in Psychology: A Scoping Review of Topic and Method Variation and Directions for Future Research

“…Researchers also assessed moderators and mediators of the relationships between individual-level indicators of pluralistic ignorance and the consequences of those misperceptions ( n = 17 studies included such an analysis). Researchers have discussed variables such as fear of social rejection and negative evaluation (Cook & Lane, 2014; Geiger & Swim, 2016; Schroeder & Prentice, 1998), differences in reactions to ego threat (Prentice & Miller, 1993), and strength of ingroup identification (Miller & Morrison, 2009) as potential mechanisms to explain why some individuals in groups characterized by pluralistic ignorance might be more likely to conform than others. As an example, Geiger and Swim (2016) found that concerns about appearing competent mediated the relationship between perceiving others as doubting climate change and willingness to discuss climate change.…”