EDITION TO RESEARCH METHODS

Edition to Research Methods

Edition to Research Methods

Own-race faces are better remembered than faces of another, less familiar race (e.g., Meissner & Brigham, 2001). This is the crux of the own-race bias (ORB: Sporer, 2001) and has been implicated in many false identifications in eyewitness testimony (e.g., Leippe, 1995). It is a reliable effect (Chance & Goldstein, 1996), which is arguably consistent across racial groups (Bothwell, Brigham, & Malpass, 1989; but see Anthony, Copper, & Mullen, 1992, for a different result). According to a meta-analysis conducted by Meissner and Brigham (2001) people are 2.23 times more likely to recognize an own-race face than an other-race face in a recognition experiment. There are many theories that have been developed to explain the ORB. These are summarized in detail by Sporer (2001). From these theories, procedures have been developed to reduce the ORB in participants.

One of the most frequently discussed methods for reducing the ORB is with experience (Galper, 1973; Slone, Brigham, & Meissner, 2000). Attempts have been made to reduce the ORB using training regimes to increase contact with other-race faces. Malpass, Lavigueur, and Weldon (1973) used a simple 1-hour visual training paradigm, whereby white participants were shown black and white faces and were given feedback for a four-alternative forced-choice recognition test. Training did improve recognition accuracy scores, especially if participants were given shock feedback.

Following on from these studies, Lavrakas, Buri, and Mayzner (1976) conducted another training study, in which white participants were given a concept-learning visual training task. The training faces were made from an Identi-Kit, and the two concepts that participants had to learn were either light eyes or a conjunction of dark eyes and thick lips. Participants were given feedback for their judgement. Lavrakas et al. also tested whether the type of contact was relevant in the ORB and field dependence/independence of the participants. Their results indicated that those white participants who had black friends had a lower ORB than those who simply knew more black participants. Moreover, field-independent white participants were better able to recognize black faces. Finally, the training on specific features did reduce the ORB, possibly due to removing the deleterious effect of remembering only skin-colour (Lavrakas et al.).

These results are consistent with a recent theoretical account of the ORB. Levin (2000) advocates a feature selection process in the recognition of faces. By this, participants extract the most diagnostic visual feature. As such, in processing an own-race face the most diagnostic visual feature could contain any individuating information. However, processing an other-race face will involve a race feature as the most diagnostic. As such, an other-race face is processed according to a prototype and is therefore not individuated, thus making it more difficult to recognize.

An alternative explanation based upon Valentine (1991, expanded by Lewis, 2004), is that every face is stored within a multidimensional face-space. The face-space stores faces along relevant dimensions. Other-race faces do not vary consistently along these dimensions and as such are grouped close together farther away from the ...