ERIC Number: EJ941049
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0261-510X
EISSN: N/A
A Developmental Investigation of Other-Race Contact and the Own-Race Face Effect
Walker, Pamela M.; Hewstone, Miles
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, v24 n3 p451-463 Sep 2006
Research over the past two decades has demonstrated that individuals are better at recognizing and discriminating faces of their own race versus other races. The own-race effect has typically been investigated in relation to recognition memory; however, some evidence supports an own-race effect at the level of perceptual encoding in adults. The current study investigated the developmental basis of the own-race effect in White primary students (aged 7-11), secondary students (aged 12-15) and university students. Face stimuli were generated by morphing South Asian and White parent faces together along a linear continuum. In a same/different perceptual discrimination task, participants judged whether the face stimuli (morphs and parent faces) were physically identical to or different from the original parent faces. Results revealed a significant race of face effect for each age group, whereby participants were better at discriminating White relative to Asian faces. A significantly larger own-race effect was observed for the secondary and university students than for primary students. A questionnaire was used to assess other-race social anxiety and contact; however, this self-report measure was not found to be related to the observed own-race effect.
Descriptors: Race, Whites, Elementary School Students, Secondary School Students, College Students, Visual Perception, Recognition (Psychology), Age Differences, Individual Development
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Elementary Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A