Attitudes about race predict individual differences in face adaptation aftereffects

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Perception

Background:

• Racial categorization is a fundamental aspect of social perception.
• Individual differences in racial attitudes may influence perceptual processes.
• Understanding these links can illuminate the interplay between social cognition and face perception.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between individual racial attitudes and perceptual category boundaries for Black and White faces.
• To determine if these boundaries are modulated by collective self-esteem (CSE) and racial centrality.
• To explore the influence of explicit and implicit racism on face perception after adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Fifty-seven participants (20 Black, 37 White) completed measures of explicit racism, implicit racism, CSE, and racial centrality.
• Category boundaries were assessed using a two-alternative forced-choice staircase procedure after adaptation to neutral, Black, or White faces.
• Facial distortion conditions were used to differentiate identity mechanisms from global face perception.

Main Results:

• Higher CSE was associated with category boundaries shifting towards faces with more Black features after neutral adaptation.
• Sensitivity shifts following face adaptation were weaker for individuals with higher explicit racism.
• Sensitivity shifts were stronger for individuals with higher implicit racism but lower explicit racism.

Conclusions:

• Individual racial attitudes, including collective self-esteem and levels of racism, significantly account for variations in natural category boundaries between racial groups.
• Face perception and adaptation aftereffects are demonstrably influenced by an individual's attitudes about race.
• These findings highlight the dynamic interplay between social attitudes and fundamental perceptual mechanisms in race perception.