Case file
Cross-Race Effect
- Filed under
- Not Enough Meaning
- Also recorded as
- other-race effect, own-race bias
The charge
Cross-race effect is the tendency to be worse at distinguishing faces of races one has had less experience individuating.
How it operates
Perceptual expertise grows with exposure and attention to individual-level features, so unfamiliar groups are encoded more categorically.
Logged incidents
- Incident 01
An interviewer mixes up two candidates of another race.
- Incident 02
Security staff rely too heavily on badges because faces blur together.
- Incident 03
Conference attendees remember majority-race speakers individually but minority-race speakers as a group.
What to watch for
Ask: Am I relying on face memory where I have lower perceptual expertise?
Recommended action
Use individuation training, more deliberate exposure, and non-face identifiers in high-stakes settings.
Known associates
- Out-Group Homogeneity BiasOut-group homogeneity bias is seeing people outside your group as more similar to each other than they really…
- In-Group FavoritismIn-group favoritism is preferring, trusting, or rewarding people seen as part of your own group.
- Halo EffectHalo effect is when one positive trait or first impression spills over into unrelated judgments about the…
- Cheerleader EffectCheerleader effect is the tendency for people to seem more attractive or appealing when seen in a group than…
- Positivity EffectPositivity effect is giving relatively more weight to positive information or memories than negative ones,…
- Not Invented HereNot invented here is rejecting outside ideas or solutions mainly because they came from outside the group.
Source of record