What kind of audacity would a person have to possess in order to say such a thing? Maybe I'm being a bit hyperbolic with the above example but hyperboles prove points and I am on a point-proving mission (along with a save the world mission).
Stop telling me you think all Asians look alike.
Diamond, L., Hicks, A., & Otter-Henderson, K. (2008). Every time you go away: Changes in affect, behavior, and physiology associated with travel-related separations from romantic partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95 (2), 385-403First off, if you genuinely believe we all look alike, this subject matter should not be used as an icebreaker. I will judge you if you use this to start off a conversation. I may even resent you for the rest of your life. If you have to rely on such shoddy material in order to begin a conversation, I would say a lesson on social skills should be in order.
Boy: Hi
Jess: Hi
Boy: What are you? [refer to my earlier post entitled "Where are you from?"]
Jess: (reluctantly and while rolling her eyes) Chinese (I would usually say something wittier or possibly even snippier but for time's sake sometimes I like to cut to the chase)
Boy: Ya'll look alike! Can't tell you apart!
Jess: Whew, I'm glad we got that out of the way. I always hate all these social formalities we have to uphold. Thanks for blurting out the first thing that came to your mind, seriously, thank you...I feel so much more comfortable around you.
Boy: You're welcome.
Social psychology explains the phenomenon (though I don't really consider it much of a phenomenon) of being able to more easily recognize facial differences between those of your own race versus those of another. I love social psychology; it takes simple adages that everyone takes for granted and performs scientific experiments in order to prove or disprove the adages' validity. Take the commonly used aphorism: absence makes the heart grow fonder. Is this statement true or false? Some would say, "It's all subjective, you can't really tell; social psychologists say, "Let's make up an experiment!" Sometimes the results seem to be what I like to call 'duh-statements'; I could have told you that without you going off and spending a thousand dollars developing an experiment. Other times the results are truly shocking and unexpected. As for whether or not absence makes the heart grow fonder...it doesn't (Diamond, 2008). Okay, enough rambling about my love of social psychology. Here are some key points about our ability to recognize faces within our own race:
Malpass and Kravi (1969) were the first to empirically demonstrate that the identification of a face is more frequently correct when the face belongs to one's own ethnic group compared to a face from another ethnic group. They first showed 20 slides to white and black subjects. Ten of these slides showed white faces, the other ten showed black faces. Subjects were then presented with a second series of 80 slides, 40 of which showed black faces, and the other 40 white faces. The first 20 slides had been included in these series. For each slide subjects were asked whether they had seen that particular slide before.
On the basis of their findings Malpass and Kravi (1969) arrived at the following conclusion: "subjects were found to have higher acuity for faces of own race" (p.330). Their results, however, show that this phenomenon mainly occurs in whites identifying black faces. White subjects recognize black faces less accurately while whites recognized the white faces more frequently than the black faces, while black subjects recognized the black and white faces with equal facility" (p. 393).
To explain the phenomenon that blacks recognize faces of a different ethnic origin more easily than whites it is often said that blacks have more experience with individuals of a different ethnic origin than whites (Brigham & Malpass, 1985; Bothwell, Brigham & Malpass, 1989). Experiences with other ethnic groups increase the familiarity with 'other faces', which has a positive effect on valid and reliable facial description.
If you have issues with differentiating one person from another in the same race category I would encourage you to increase your experiences with those of other races. Another suggestion would be to increase eye contact when speaking to others and pay attention to tier facial features. Too often I see members of our generation failing to provide adequate eye contact while conversing with others. Look at the person while you're speaking to them but steer clear from actually appearing to study out their face. No creepers please!
So the next time you think about blurting out how all us Asians be looking alike, remember that we can't tell you people apart either.
PS: The above statement makes more sense when you consider that Asians are a very exclusive people. Many of the Chinese students I conversed with had never seen a black person in the flesh. Lack of experience=inability to differentiate.
Boy: Hi
Jess: Hi
Boy: What are you? [refer to my earlier post entitled "Where are you from?"]
Jess: (reluctantly and while rolling her eyes) Chinese (I would usually say something wittier or possibly even snippier but for time's sake sometimes I like to cut to the chase)
Boy: Ya'll look alike! Can't tell you apart!
Jess: Whew, I'm glad we got that out of the way. I always hate all these social formalities we have to uphold. Thanks for blurting out the first thing that came to your mind, seriously, thank you...I feel so much more comfortable around you.
Boy: You're welcome.
Social psychology explains the phenomenon (though I don't really consider it much of a phenomenon) of being able to more easily recognize facial differences between those of your own race versus those of another. I love social psychology; it takes simple adages that everyone takes for granted and performs scientific experiments in order to prove or disprove the adages' validity. Take the commonly used aphorism: absence makes the heart grow fonder. Is this statement true or false? Some would say, "It's all subjective, you can't really tell; social psychologists say, "Let's make up an experiment!" Sometimes the results seem to be what I like to call 'duh-statements'; I could have told you that without you going off and spending a thousand dollars developing an experiment. Other times the results are truly shocking and unexpected. As for whether or not absence makes the heart grow fonder...it doesn't (Diamond, 2008). Okay, enough rambling about my love of social psychology. Here are some key points about our ability to recognize faces within our own race:
Malpass and Kravi (1969) were the first to empirically demonstrate that the identification of a face is more frequently correct when the face belongs to one's own ethnic group compared to a face from another ethnic group. They first showed 20 slides to white and black subjects. Ten of these slides showed white faces, the other ten showed black faces. Subjects were then presented with a second series of 80 slides, 40 of which showed black faces, and the other 40 white faces. The first 20 slides had been included in these series. For each slide subjects were asked whether they had seen that particular slide before.
On the basis of their findings Malpass and Kravi (1969) arrived at the following conclusion: "subjects were found to have higher acuity for faces of own race" (p.330). Their results, however, show that this phenomenon mainly occurs in whites identifying black faces. White subjects recognize black faces less accurately while whites recognized the white faces more frequently than the black faces, while black subjects recognized the black and white faces with equal facility" (p. 393).
To explain the phenomenon that blacks recognize faces of a different ethnic origin more easily than whites it is often said that blacks have more experience with individuals of a different ethnic origin than whites (Brigham & Malpass, 1985; Bothwell, Brigham & Malpass, 1989). Experiences with other ethnic groups increase the familiarity with 'other faces', which has a positive effect on valid and reliable facial description.
If you have issues with differentiating one person from another in the same race category I would encourage you to increase your experiences with those of other races. Another suggestion would be to increase eye contact when speaking to others and pay attention to tier facial features. Too often I see members of our generation failing to provide adequate eye contact while conversing with others. Look at the person while you're speaking to them but steer clear from actually appearing to study out their face. No creepers please!
So the next time you think about blurting out how all us Asians be looking alike, remember that we can't tell you people apart either.
PS: The above statement makes more sense when you consider that Asians are a very exclusive people. Many of the Chinese students I conversed with had never seen a black person in the flesh. Lack of experience=inability to differentiate.
Japanese Domo-Kun and Chinese Jie-ling have some noticeable differences
Vrig, A., & Winkel, F.W. (1989). Recognition of own and other-race faces: The effects of quality versus quantity of cross-cultural interaction. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 5 (2), 24-28
6 comments:
I love your posts, Jessica!
Very interesting Jess! I feel so educated after reading that and it reminds me of the discussions that we would have at about 2am. I will work on looking at people's faces more... but not in a creepy way! megs
jajaja. this is great. now i have scientific proof for all this!
When people ask me "What are you?" I respond "American" or "human." And if they keep pressing "uhh, are you Chinese, Japanese, or what?" I give them a blank stare until it gets really awkward and keep asserting that I'm no different than them. But all that could be avoided with a little social tactfulness. For example, (a few minutes into an already-started conversation) "where's your family from?"
I remember when my friend Jason came up here from Hawaii, and he told me it took him like a month to remember which white guy his roommate was when he was not in his room. He just hadn't had that much exposure to white people. I mean to a certain extent, sure that's his fault, but he also dealt with it with more tact than saying "What are you?" and "You all look the same!"
This is one thing I love about being raised where I was raised. I got exposed to lots of different blacks, Asians, Indians, white people. But then again I also have a propensity to not see people as the same.
My sister will often say, "Doesn't [x] look like [y]?" And I will invariably answer no, and then she will roll her eyes and say, "Oh that's surprising."
It is funny because in Provo, I pay more attention to people of a different racial background than I did in Maryland, just because diversity seems like water in the desert. A generic white person on the street is not going to get my attention as much as anyone else non-white.
But I think people are more likely to learn tact and sensitivity if they are not met with offense and abrasion. They are more likely to learn sensitivity to different races by knowing you better, because it is so important to you, than by learning to steer clear of other races, because they are likely to cause offense, where none is intended.
I actually haven't encountered this too much. Unless I'm just super dense. haha. Usually people ask, "where are you from?" or "what is your background?" I just play with them and say "California" knowing what's in their mind. Or I say "New Jersey" (which is where I lived for 9 years). haha.
I don't get offended too easily. So maybe I'm just stupid. lol
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