No abstract

The human face is an important source of information, such as race or ethnicity, that can guide social interaction and outcomes. Research suggests that compared to majority and dominant group members, minority and subordinate group members tend to experience chronic stigma, resulting in more negative life outcomes (e.g., educational and occupational attainment). We argue that theory and research exploring face perception has not led to models that incorporate how the chronic experience of stigma may impact judgments, reflecting a gap with potential consequences for the validity and generalizability of the theories developed. We propose a framework for understanding how experiencing a socially stigmatized racial identity may lead perceivers to engage in face processing differently from their non-stigmatized counterparts. With a focus on the literature examining the cross-race effect, we explore the potential impact of chronic social stigma on three theorized moderators guiding processing and memory for same-versus cross-race faces. Our analysis suggests that future research focusing on stigmatized perceivers could help to explain some variation in findings, lead to novel theoretical development, and ultimately produce more generalizable research across several domains of inquiry.

No abstract

The model of stigma-induced identity threat suggests that stigmatized individuals use situational cues (e.g., presence of an out-group member) to assess the identity threat potential of, or the risk of experiencing discrimination in, their environments. To date, however, this model has been tested in samples of participants with only one stigmatized identity. In three studies, we show that women of color attribute rejection to sexism more than racism when men are involved and to racism more than sexism when Whites are involved. Participants clearly attended to situational cues, despite predictions advanced in past research that women of color see all ambiguous situations in the same way: as involving primarily racism ( ethnic prominence) or as involving both racism and sexism ( double jeopardy). Study 3 further revealed that double-jeopardy-like attributions are more likely when rejections involve “double” out-group members, and single attributions are more likely when rejections involve “partial” out-group members.

The human face is an important source of information, such as race or ethnicity, that can guide social interaction and outcomes. Research suggests that compared to majority and dominant group members, minority and subordinate group members tend to experience chronic stigma, resulting in more negative life outcomes (e.g., educational and occupational attainment). We argue that theory and research exploring face perception has not led to models that incorporate how the chronic experience of stigma may impact judgments, reflecting a gap with potential consequences for the validity and generalizability of the theories developed. We propose a framework for understanding how experiencing a socially stigmatized racial identity may lead perceivers to engage in face processing differently from their non-stigmatized counterparts. With a focus on the literature examining the cross-race effect, we explore the potential impact of chronic social stigma on three theorized moderators guiding processing and memory for same- versus cross-race faces. Our analysis suggests that future research focusing on stigmatized perceivers could help to explain some variation in findings, lead to novel theoretical development, and ultimately produce more generalizable research across several domains of inquiry.