Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

British Journal of Psychology

Volume

114

Issue

S1

First Page

230

Last Page

252

PubMed ID

34010458

Publisher

Wiley

School

School of Nursing and Midwifery

RAS ID

35857

Funders

Australian Research Council / DECRA number DE180100015 to YS

Grant Number

ARC Number : DP150100684

Grant Link

https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/NCGP/Web/Grant/Grant/DP150100684

Comments

This is an Author Accepted Manuscript version of an article published by Wiley in British Journal of Psychology. The published version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12508

McKone, E., Dawel, A., Robbins, R. A., Shou, Y., Chen, N., & Crookes, K. (2023). Why the other‐race effect matters: Poor recognition of other‐race faces impacts everyday social interactions. British Journal of Psychology, 114(S1, 230-252. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12508

Abstract

What happens to everyday social interactions when other-race recognition fails? Here, we provide the first formal investigation of this question. We gave East Asian international students (N = 89) a questionnaire concerning their experiences of the other-race effect (ORE) in Australia, and a laboratory test of their objective other-race face recognition deficit using the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). As a ‘perpetrator’ of the ORE, participants reported that their problems telling apart Caucasian people contributed significantly to difficulties socializing with them. Moreover, the severity of this problem correlated with their ORE on the CFMT. As a ‘victim’ of the ORE, participants reported that Caucasians' problems telling them apart also contributed to difficulties socializing. Further, 81% of participants had been confused with other Asians by a Caucasian authority figure (e.g., university tutor, workplace boss), resulting in varying levels of upset/difficulty. When compared to previously established contributors to international students' high rates of social isolation, ORE-related problems were perceived as equally important as the language barrier and only moderately less important than cultural differences. We conclude that the real-world impact of the ORE extends beyond previously identified specialized settings (eyewitness testimony, security), to common everyday situations experienced by all humans.

DOI

10.1111/bjop.12508

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