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Face individuation involves sensitivity to physical characteristics that provide information about identity. We examined whether Black and White American faces differ in terms of individuating information, and whether Black and White perceivers differentially weight information when judging same-race and cross-race faces. Study 1 analyzed 20 structural metrics (e.g., eye width, nose length) of 158 Black and White faces to determine which differentiate faces within each group. High-utility metrics (e.g., nose length, eye height, chin length) differentiated faces of both groups, low-utility metrics (e.g., face width, eye width, face length) offered less individuating information. Study 2 ( N = 4,510) explored Black and White participants’ sensitivity to variation on structural metrics using similarity ratings. High-utility metrics affected perceived dissimilarity more than low-utility metrics. This relationship was non-significantly stronger for same-race faces rather than cross-race faces. Perceivers also relied more on features that were racially stereotypic of the faces they were rating.
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Within-person dynamics of attention to race and expression of race bias: a real-time test of the self-regulation of prejudice model
Abstract Prior research has supported some aspects of a theorized prejudice self-regulation model. We provide the first test of the full model-based process of bias regulation as it unfolds in real time. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from White undergraduates at two large American universities (N = 130; 40% female) during a racial stereotype priming task. Attention to Black male face primes, indexed by the P2 ERP, increased following self-regulation failures. In turn, within-person, trial-to-trial variability in attention to Black male faces predicted variability in bias expression. The latter effect was moderated by individual differences in internal motivation to respond without prejudice (IMS). Specifically, among lower-IMS individuals, trials in which Black faces elicited relatively larger P2 amplitudes (relative to an individual’s own average P2 amplitude) were associated with increased behavioral race bias. In contrast, and consistent with theory, among higher-IMS individuals trials in which Black faces elicited larger relative P2 amplitudes were associated with decreased bias. Findings provide direct evidence supporting the temporal sequencing of race-bias regulation and identify within-person variability in attention to race as a potential mechanism for determining when and in whom bias will be regulated.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2234319
- PAR ID:
- 10581959
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1749-5016
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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