Memory for diverse faces in a racially attentive context

Benjamin Uel Marsh,Hyun Seo Lee,Taylor Weeks,Deborah Revenaugh

doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00340-y

Benjamin Uel Marsh, Hyun Seo Lee + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00340-y

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Abstract

Two experiments assessed how racial ambiguity and racial salience moderates the cross-race effect (CRE). In experiment 1, White and Black participants studied and identified the race of Asian, Black, Latino, and White faces that varied in ethnic typicality (high or low ET). For White participants, the CRE was larger when comparing high-ET White faces to high-ET other-race faces than low-ET other-race faces. Black participants showed a similar CRE reduction by ethnic typicality, but also showed a less prevalent CRE than White participants. Experiment 2 replicated experiment 1 procedures, but without the race identification task and only with White participants. Experiment 2 findings were comparable to experiment 1. Furthermore, experiment 2 showed a noticeably smaller CRE on Black faces than experiment 1, eliciting questions about increased racial salience amplifying the CRE. Results’ general implications and the conceptual roots that indirectly link the CRE and racism will be discussed.

Highlights

It is not uncommon for sociocultural differences, or worse, racial conflict to perpetuate a degree of cultural distance (Demes & Geeraert, 2014; Triandis, 2000) that undoubtedly leaves a cognitive mark
Psychological scientists have consistently found that people are more accurate at recognizing same-race faces than other-race faces, a phenomenon known as the crossrace effect (CRE)
Models meant to explain the cross-race effect (CRE) differ in the causal weight they assign to perceptual expertise in processing same and other-race faces, the process of categorizing faces into a shared social group, and the degree of motivation one has to encode individuating facial features

Summary

Introduction

It is not uncommon for sociocultural differences, or worse, racial conflict to perpetuate a degree of cultural distance (Demes & Geeraert, 2014; Triandis, 2000) that undoubtedly leaves a cognitive mark. Roberts and Rizzo (2021) outlined seven contributing factors to American racism Two of those factors, categories and segregation, likely affect how much perceptual expertise someone has in other-race faces as well as their general conceptualization of racial categories. When viewing a racially ambiguous face, the process may involve denoting a face as samerace or other-race, and an attempt to identify the racial category of the face To accomplish this task, individuals may turn to facial markers for racial/ethnic clues. If the size of the CRE is smaller for other-race faces that are racially ambiguous compared to racially unambiguous, racially ambiguous other-race faces may be receiving more individuating processing than racially unambiguous other-race faces These effects are tested within two different experimental contexts. Differences between the experiments in the size of the CRE are explored

Methods

Participants

Results and discussion