Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40055324›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

A transparency statement improves trust in community-police interactions.

Kyle S H Dobson, Andrea G Dittmann, David S Yeager

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Kyle S H Dobson *Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA. kyle.dobson@virginia.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1548-8873
Andrea G Dittmann *University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, 3670 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA. dittmann@marshall.usc.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8250-0276
David S YeagerPopulation Research Center and Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8522-9503

Funding

Scientific & Technical CoreP2CHD042849 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · PI MARK D. HAYWARD · 2017 to 2026
$5.2M
Estimating and Understanding Effects of Teaching Teens That People Can ChangeR01HD084772 · NICHD · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN · PI YEAGER, DAVID S · 2015 to 2019
$3.0M
National Science Foundation (NSF) 1761179NICHD NIH HHS P2C HD042849NICHD NIH HHS R01 HD084772U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) P2CHD042849U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) R01HD084772
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Over the past three decades, billions have been invested in community policing to foster positive interactions between officers and community members. Yet, public trust in police continues to decline. Our qualitative analysis of over 500 hours of naturalistic observations suggests a potential reason: the questioning styles of officers in community policing may make community members feel threatened. Observations also point to a solution: transparent communication of benevolent intent. Building on this, a pre-registered field experiment (N = 232) finds that community members feel less threatened and report greater trust when officers use a brief transparency statement (e.g., "I'm walking around trying to get to know the community"). These findings are supported by exploratory natural language processing and sympathetic nervous system measures. Six online experiments (total N = 3210) further show that transparency statements are effective across diverse groups and isolate the conditions where they work best. This multi-method investigation underscores the importance of transparency in fostering positive community-police relations.

Indexed as

PoliceTrustAdultCommunicationFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID40055324
PMCPMC11889189

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.