Cross-race identification bias

Cross-race identification bias is the tendency for people of one race to have difficulty identifying members of a race other than their own. This effect is also known as the misinformation effect. Since the people in this effect are considered to be misinformed about other races therefore have difficulty identifying other races. This effect is found mostly in an eyewitness situation; Eyewitness identificaton as well as identifying a suspect in a line-up. When put in this certain situation they feel as if races other than their own look alike and have no difference beside their own. Reviewing different cross-studies, this effect is shown in real life situation and put in effect. In one study done by Platz and Hosch, eighty six convenience store clerks were asked to identify three customers, one white, one black, and one Mexican American. All of whom stopped in the store earlier that day and made a purchase. The results of the study showed that each of the clerks identified customers belonging to their own race accurately. But for referring to members of the other race they stated “they all look alike.” Cross-Race Identification Bias shows how prone people are to make false identification when asked or tries to identity people from another racial and ethnic background other than their own. In a study dealing with eyewitnesses’ testimony, Sheree Josephson of Weber State University examined forty participants in a racially diverse area of the U.S. They had subjects watch a video of a property crime being committed, than in the next 24 hours came to pick the suspect out of photo line-up. Most of the participants in the study either misidentified the suspect or stated the suspect was not in the line-up at all. Correct identification of the suspect occurred more often when the eyewitness and the suspect was that of the same race (Josephson, S. 2008).

References

Kassin, S. Fein, S., & Markus, HR (2008). Social Psychology (7th ed). Houghton Mifflin: Boston