Running head: THE COMPLEX DEVELOPMENT OF THE CROSS RACE EFFECT

The Complex Development of the Cross-Race Effect and Its Effect on Racial Tendencies Tiffany Couch Liberty High School Kids are racist. A study published earlier this year was able to show that the age that children start developing racist tendencies is the period from five to seven years of age. Before five years, children show no preference of race in social partners: they are as likely to share their toys with African-American or Caucasian children. Their opinions of other children their age dont differ from child to child either. However, after age five, children are far more likely to choose a playmate of the same race. They are also more likely to refer to children of other races as dirty or stupid (Anzures, Pascalis, Quinn, Slater, Tanaka, & Lee, 2013, p. 175). The term racism was first used in 1933 (Racism, n.d.), and in the 80 years since its inception, it has spread like wildfire. Racial tensions have always been present, even now, despite the most recent advancements in civil rights. Today, its very difficult to bring up any kind of race-related issue without saying or doing something considered racist. Politically correct terms for racial and ethnic groups are constantly changing, as less offensive terms replace outdated, insensitive ones. Research into racial attitudes during the past forty years has explored whether there is a scientific explanation for racism. The closest thing that scientists have to an explanation right now is what they have dubbed the cross-race effect. The cross-race effect is a phenomenon that many people experience every day, and pervades in society in ways that go unnoticed, or at least unnamed, to most. Also known as the same-race bias or the other-race effect, the cross-race effect occurs when a person has difficulty distinguishing between individuals of a race other than theirs (Anzures et al, 2013, p. 173). It is

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closely related to another phenomenon called prosopagnosia (also known as face blindness), in which the individual affected finds it difficult to distinguish between all people of all races and genders. This condition, unlike the cross-race effect, is a recognized medical condition since it is caused by damage to a specific part of the brain, most commonly from a trauma or stroke (Allatar, 2013). The existence of the cross-race effect has been proven time and time again, by scores of research teams, and usually shows up between three months to five years of age. Because of its onset so early in life, it could be one of the causes of racism. Although the cross-race effect is proven, the causes of it are still hotly debated. There are three main questions about the origins of the cross-race effect. One- does a multiracial society reduce occurrence of the cross-race effect? Two- is it experiential or developmental? Three- in mitigation, is mere exposure to other races effective, or is meaningful exposure the necessary route? It is feasible that if it is possible to avoid the phenomenon early in life, then racism could be a far less likely result (Anzures et al., 2013, p. 176). Its most important to figure out the answers to these three questions, because their answers to could lead to the extinction of the CRE. The cross-race effect is not influenced by the makeup of races in a society, but since it is developed so early in life, exposure of any kind (meaningful or otherwise) can be helpful in retraining it. Kelly (2005) studied whether the CRE is innate and simply progresses as the individual affected grows older, or if it is developed by the surrounding environment. The study concluded that at the beginning of life, newborns show no preference in faces, other than for their mothers face. But at the age of three months, babies show a tendency to look at own-race faces. It was also proven that when infants were familiarized with three individual facesthey were able to demonstrate recognition with both own and other-race faces (Kelly et al., 2005, p. F31). So,

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even though babies were biased towards their own race starting at three months, given the opportunity to become familiar with individuals of another race, the babies were able to show progress in their quest to eradicate the CRE. Between the birth and three months old, the babies were only constantly exposed to people of their own race (except in cases of biracial and adopted individuals), which no doubt makes it clearer that the bias is experiential rather than developmental. It is important to keep in mind that it is a challenge to accurately measure preference for certain faces in newborns, since they are unpredictable and cannot be expected to react as is wanted. Their main concern is learning about the world, and ascertaining who their mother is, so any personality development studies in newborns are very difficult. Do monoracial or multiracial societies have an effect on the presence of the CRE? A study in 2007 in the United States, Norway, and South Africa found that despite Caucasian inhabitants of South Africa growing up around dark-skinned South Africans, they were no better at distinguishing between individuals of other races than the Caucasians of the United States or Norway. Growing up in a heterogeneous-race society has more or less the same effect as growing up in a homogeneous one (Goodman et al., 2007, p. 233). However, South Africans that took part in this study grew up during Apartheid and the years following, so its very possible that someone of one race rarely had meaningful exposure to an individual of another race due to racial segregation. It was discovered in the same study, though, that children considered biracial (parents of two different races) performed equally well in differentiating between individuals of their parents races, but just as poorly as single-race participants when it came to other races (Goodman et. al, 2007, p. 240). This shows that direct contact all of the time with people of multiple races (like both parents) can help to eliminate the CRE in races involved. However, this

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isnt realistic (currently) for monoracial individuals, even in a heterogeneous race society. The CRE is developed in the first three months of life, and in this time, most babies are not always completely aware in the small amount of time that they are outside of the home and could come into contact with people of all races. They will, on the other hand, come in contact with family (most of the time, all of the same race) and friends (possibly of other races, but not guaranteed). This idea brings about the next aspect in development of the CRE: mere exposure versus meaningful interaction. This facet of the cross-race effect has been tested in individuals adopted into families of a race other than their own. Children adopted between the ages of three and nine years old could only distinguish between faces of the same race as the family that adopted them (Sangrigoli, Pallier, Argenti, Ventureyra, & de Schonen, S. 2005, p. 443). This indicates that biases and opinions are still being solidified during a period of nine years (or possibly more), and can be swayed or completely changed by meaningful exposure. Additionally, a research team concluded that at the age of three months, twenty minutes of exposure to faces of another race can get rid of the effect, with the exposure time getting progressively longer the older the individual gets. The average exposure time needed for an adult to eliminate the CRE is about 20 years (Anzures et al., 2013, pg. 175). The older the individual, the longer exposure must be to be meaningful. A short lesson on how to differentiate faces is not enough to completely get rid of CRE. On the other hand, a study done in 2009 showed that there may be some validity to mere exposure. Participants (all Caucasian) were shown pictures of African-American men presented with a word, either positive, negative, or nonsense in connotation. Participants were asked to respond as quickly as possible whether or not the word presented was an actual English word. The subjects were much quicker to respond when the word paired was negative rather than

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positive (by an average of about 2.27 seconds). In other words, it was more difficult for the participants to comprehend that a positive word would be paired with an African-American man, a possible sign of bias (or even racism). After a brief training on differentiation in faces of African-American men, the test was given again, and the difference in reaction time was no longer statistically significant. The research team came to the conclusion that implicit racial biases are multifaceted, and include malleable perceptual skills that can be modified with relatively little training (Lebrecht, Pierce, Tarr mail, & Tanaka, 2009, p. 3). This research assumes that the purpose for training against the cross-race effect has the sole purpose of creating more positive racial attitudes rather than completely eradicating the effect. If it creates more positive attitude, though, a comprehensive, meaningful training may not be necessary. It all depends on what the long term goals are for the treatment. Five victimsall of whom spent several hours with the perpetrator, each identified a man who subsequently was proved to have been several hundred miles away at the time of the offensewhen the true criminal was apprehended, it was apparent that, other than his black skin, he bore no resemblance to the original suspect (Rutledge, 2001, p. 213). The phenomenon described here is closely linked to the CRE and is referred to as cross race impairment It occurs in criminal proceedings where the victim is a different race than the defendant and the victim is shown a lineup of people and is asked to point out which one is the perpetrator. The cross-race effect is aggravated when faces are shown in groups rather than individually (Pezdek, OBrien, & Wasson, 2011), so it makes finding the perpetrator that much more difficult. This is the reason why the cross-race effect is important, and why minimizing it is even more important. It means innocent people accused of being criminals, and unnecessary imprisonment because of the color of their skin.

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Its no doubt that most people have heard in their lifetime I cant tell white people apart or Why do black people all look the same? Its reassuring to know that this is a common occurrence in all races, and although it does not seem to be innate, its nearly impossible to affect the onset because of how early it develops, even while living in a society with a myriad of races. But, since it can be retrained through contact with unfamiliar races, another roadblock in the way towards racial blindness can be removed. The cross-race effect may not seem too bad on paper, but it has unintended effects that are much bigger than an unwarranted accusation of racism: it can mean lives changed forever just because of a small mix-up.

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References Allatar, M. (2013, February 9). Brain Power: Discerning facial expressions is no easy task. The Free-Lance Star. Retrieved from http://news.fredericksburg.com/healthyliving/2013/02/09/brain-power-discerning-facialexpressions-is-no-easy-task/ Anzures, G., Pascalis, O.,Quinn, P.C., Slater, A.M., Lee, K. (2011). Minimizing Skin Color Dierences Does Not Eliminate the Own-Race Recognition Advantage in Infants. The Official Journal of the International Society on Infant Studies. 16(6). 640-654. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2010.00066.x Anzures, G., Quinn, P.C., Pascalis, O., Slater, A.M., Tanaka, J.W., Lee, K. (2013). Developmental origins of the other race effect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(3), 173-178. 10.1177/0963721412474459 Goodman, G.S., Sayfana, L., Leeb, J.S., Sandheic, M., Walle-Olsenc, A., Magnussenc, S., Pezdeke, K., & Arredondo, P. (2007). The development of memory for own- and otherrace faces. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 98(4), 233242. http://dx.doi.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.1016/j.jecp.2007.08.004 Kelly, D.J., Quinn, P.C., Slater, A.M., Lee, K., Gibson, A., Smith, M., Ge, L., & Pascalis, O. (2005). Three-month-olds, but not newborns, prefer own-race faces. Developmental Science, 8(6), F31-F36. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.0434a.x Lebrecht, S., Pierce, L.J., Tarr mail, M.J., Tanaka J.W. (2009). Perceptual Other-Race Training Reduces Implicit Racial Bias. Plos One, 4(1). 1-7. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004215

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Pezdek, K., OBrien, M., Wasson, C. (2011). Cross-Race (but Not Same-Race) Face Identification Is Impaired by Presenting Faces in a Group Rather Than Individually. Law and Human Behavior, 36(6), 488-95. doi: 10.1037/h0093933 Racism. (n.d). In The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. Retrieved from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/racism Rutledge, J.P. (2001). Why are Cross-Racial Eyewitness IDs Especially Unreliable?. Retrieved from http://racism.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=866:justice031&catid=136:uncategorized-articles&Itemid=155 Sangrigoli, S., Pallier, C., Argenti, A.M., Ventureyra, V.A.G., & de Schonen, S. (2005). Reversibility of the Other-Race Effect in Face Recognition During Childhood. Psychology Science, 16(6), 440-444. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15943669