Hi A crude familiarity explanation for the same-race bias has mixed support. Same race bias initially observed primarily on memory tasks (relevant to eye-witness testimony), but subsequently found with perceptual tasks as well. One prominent explanation now is that we fail to individuate faces of members of other ethnic groups as much as we do our own. For example, focusing on ethnic-specific features does not allow us to differentiate that face from other faces from that group as well as focusing on individuated features (i.e., characteristics specific to that particular instance). Some evidence, consistent with this model, is that people who show same-race memory bias tend to also show same-race perceptual bias. One study of latter phenomenon that I am familiar with used morphed faces with different proportion mixtures from two ethnic groups. People were better at making correct different judgments between two successive images when from their own "ethnic" end of the facial spectrum.
This hypothesis does mix with familiarity, much in the way that Paul suggests. Basketball fans, who arguably learn to differentiate (discriminate in Paul's terms) faces of Blacks, do NOT show same-race memory bias. I don't know if anyone has done it, but the model suggests all kinds of nice studies on the effect of different biasing instructions during exposure to faces. For example, would making male/female judgments disrupt memory for faces with same-sex distractors? Light / Dark skin? Round / Oval shaped eyes? ... And could easily extend to other stimuli as well. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca Department of Psychology University of Winnipeg Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 CANADA >>> Paul Brandon <paul.bran...@mnsu.edu> 29-Apr-09 2:23 PM >>> Jim-- Not a direct answer to your question, but .... Seems to me that stimulus discrimination training handles it adequately. We have more practice in discriminating between members of our own ethic group, since we see more of them than we do members of other groups (at least when we're in the majority group). Hence more discrimination training and finer discriminations. Prediction from this: Members of minority groups who interact with more members of the majority group than their own should make finer discriminations between members of the majority group. Data, anyone? On Apr 29, 2009, at 1:44 PM, Jim Dougan wrote: > TIPsters.... > > Yesterday my daughter asked me the technical term for thinking that > everyone in another ethnic group looks the same. I assume there is a > term for it - but I don't know what it is. Anyone? > > -- Jim Dougan Paul Brandon 10 Crown Hill Lane Mankato, MN 56001 pkbra...@hickorytech.net --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
