The Role of Race and Racial Prejudice in Recognizing Other People

Abstract

Harmonious interactions between individuals and between groups of people depend upon, among other things, the ability to recognize individuals, distinguish them from each other, and treat each individual appropriately. If one is unable to distinguish members of a particular group from each other, then it is difficult to treat each person with the individuality that he or she deserves. Failing to treat a person as a unique individual is often seen as a central characteristic of stereotyping and prejudice. Many things can interfere with one’s motivation or ability to treat others as individuals. Group membership is one such factor. Researchers have identified the outgroup homogeneity effect, the finding that people in outgroups are seen as more homogeneous, more similar to each other, than are members of one’s own group. The outgroup homogeneity effect stems from the idea that because they are classified as a group, the members of the group must be alike (Judd, Ryan, & Park, 1991). People tend to see their own group as a heterogeneous set of unique individuals, while outgroups are seen as homogeneous sets of similar persons. A meta-analysis by Mullen and Hu (1989) found a small but significant effect that they labeled relative heterogeneity. On average, outgroups were seen as more homogeneous than the scale midpoint, whereas ingroups were seen as somewhat less homogeneous than the midpoint. This effect was stronger when the ingroup and outgroups were real, enduring groups, and weaker when they were artificial, laboratory-created groups. The effect also was stronger as the relative size of the ingroup increased. While most of this research has focused upon group members’ assumptions about attitudes and about perceived personality characteristics, the outgroup homogeneity effect is also visible in the area of perception, particularly race perception. What I am referring to has been variously called the “cross-race effect,” the “own-race bias,” or the “other-race effect” in face recognition. These terms describe the tendency of people to recognize the faces of members of their own racial group more easily and with less error than the faces of members of other racial groups. An awareness of the difficulty of recognizing other-race people is often illustrated by the comment, “They all look alike to me.” The cross-race effect (CRE) has been investigated by cognitive psychologists for its relevance to general theories of memory, and by psycholegal scholars concerned about its impact on the justice system. But it seems to me that it also has