Facial Recognition: The "Cross-Race Effect"

August 2007 - A study by Miami University psychologist Kurt Hugenberg and graduate students Michael Bernstein and Steven Young published in Psychological Science throws new light on the "cross-race effect", a well-replicated if not fully understood phenomenon involving difficulty in distinguishing between people of other racial groups.

Researchers point out that this can have diverse adverse consequences including the "disturbingly common occurrence of eye-witness misidentifications".

It has been argued that this may simply result from lack of contact with individuals of other racial groups. However, the current study found that the cross-race effect occurred in the absence of racial difference and may reflect the tendency to categorize people into in-groups and out-groups based on social categories like class.

Undergraduate study participants were told they were viewing computer screen images of fellow Miami students (the in-group) or students from Marshall University (football rivals and the "ultimate out-group"). All the faces were white; none were students at either university. However, participants proved better able to recognize faces they believed were fellow Miami students.

The researchers commented:

"People frequently split the world up into us and them, in other words into social groups, be they racial, national, occupational, or even along the lines of university affiliation. Our work suggests that the cross-race effect is due, at least in part, to this ubiquitous tendency to see the world in terms of these in-groups and out-groups."

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