Impact of perceived interpersonal similarity on attention to the eyes of same‑race and other‑race faces
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Springer
Materia
Visual attention Intergroup bias Social categorization Similarity Face perception
Date
2021-11-02Referencia bibliográfica
Kawakami, K... [et al.]. Impact of perceived interpersonal similarity on attention to the eyes of same-race and other-race faces. Cogn. Research 6, 68 (2021). [https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00336-8]
Sponsorship
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) 435-2013-0992; Canada Foundation for Innovation CGIAR 9297Abstract
One reason for the persistence of racial discrimination may be anticipated dissimilarity with racial outgroup members
that prevent meaningful interactions. In the present research, we investigated whether perceived similarity would
impact the processing of same-race and other-race faces.Specifically, in two experiments, we varied the extent to
which White participants were ostensibly similar to targets via bogus feedback on a personality test. With an eye
tracker, we measured the effect of this manipulation on attention to the eyes, a critical region for person perception
and face memory. In Experiment 1, we monitored the impact of perceived interpersonal similarity on White participants’
attention to the eyes of same-race White targets. In Experiment 2, we replicated this procedure, but White
participants were presented with either same-race White targets or other-race Black targets in a between-subjects
design. The pattern of results in both experiments indicated a positive linear effect of similarity—greater perceived
similarity between participants and targets predicted more attention to the eyes of White and Black faces. The implications
of these findings related to top-down effects of perceived similarity for our understanding of basic processes
in face perception, as well as intergroup relations, are discussed.