‘Us vs. them’ – the role of dichotomous thinking and organizational identification in police conflict management

Police conflict management is shaped by multiple personal and organizational factors. This study extends prior research by examining how dichotomous thinking, organizational identification, and police socialization influence recruits’ preferences for communication-based, control-oriented, and force-related strategies. Drawing on survey data from 525 German police recruits across three years of training, we explored whether dichotomous thinking and strong identification with the police predict reduced emphasis on communication and increased prioritization of control and force. As expected, dichotomous thinking decreased communication priorities, and both dichotomous thinking and organizational identification increased positive attitudes toward force misconduct. Organizational identification increased over the years. Importantly, police socialization moderated the detrimental effect of dichotomous thinking on communication priorities. Our findings highlight the importance of the underlying norms and narratives of police and cop culture in shaping recruits’ views and underscore the need for academization and professionalization in police education that address ingroup biases and detrimental subcultural norms.