Isaac, Ishmael, and Janus: past and future lessons regarding the ethnic categorization of faces

Abstract

AbstractThe events of 9/11/2001 have stimulated an unprecedented degree of attention to, and efforts to identify, individuals of Arab descent. Following the Holocaust, social psychologists studied the extent to which Jewish and Non‐Jewish people could accurately categorize faces as Jewish vs. Non‐Jewish. This study provides a systematic analysis of the results of these earlier studies of the categorization of Jewish faces, with an eye toward informing the current cultural fixation upon the categorization of Arab faces. A meta‐analysis was conducted upon all available tests of the accuracy of categorization of Jewish and Non‐Jewish faces, allowing the empirical scrutiny of three models of facial perception. Judges can categorize Jewish faces to a significant, albeit extremely small degree; judges can categorize Non‐Jewish faces to a much greater degree. Results are most consistent with a model of facial perception that incorporates variations of cognitive representations of groups as a function of group size. These results suggest that training protocols for airport security guards should engage exemplar cognitive representations, emphasizing distinguishing features (rather than ethnic category membership) of faces. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.