Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Cross-racial facial identification refers to the general tendency for people to exhibit superior memory for faces belonging to members of their own ethnic or racial group than for faces belonging to another group. Plausible accounts for this phenomenon, such as greater actual similarity among faces in one race than in another or differential contact or experience with the ingroup than with the outgroup, have generally not been supported by the evidence ( see Brigham & Malpass, 1985 ). In a recent integration of this research, Anthony, Copper, and Mullen (1992) documented that the cross-racial facial identification effect, similar to the outgroup homogeneity effect, represents a specific operationalization of the general tendency to fail to distinguish among members of the outgroup. This tendency seems to be due to different cognitive representations employed for the ingroup and the outgroup. See also: outgroup homogeneity . ( 1992 ). Cross-racial facial identification: A social cognitive integration . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 18 , 296 – 301 . ( 1985 ). The role of experience and contact in the recognition of own- and other-race faces . Journal of Social Issues , 41 , 139 – 55 . ... log in or subscribe to read full text