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Date of Award
Spring 2010
Document Type
Restricted Thesis: Campus only access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Cindy Bukach
Abstract
People often find it difficult to distinguish between faces of different races than their own. This phenomenon is known as the Other-Race Effect and may be a result of differential experience with same-race (SR) and other-race (OR) faces. The exact mechanisms underlying this process, however, remain unknown. This study tested whether the ORE results from differential holistic processing of SR and OR faces in African Americans and Caucasians via two measure of configural processing: the complete composite-paradigm and the conjunction task. Both Black and White participants showed equal discrimination of white and black faces using the same degree of holistic processing. However, both Black and White participants tended to be more biased to respond “different” to OR faces. These results suggest that there is a significant response bias for OR faces that contributes to the ORE.
Recommended Citation
Cottle, Jasmine C., "Are own race faces processed more holistically" (2010). Honors Theses. 158.
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/158