Priming Race in Biracial Observers Affects Visual Search for Black and White Faces

Priming Race in Biracial Observers Affects Visual Search for Black and White Faces

Introduction:

In this paper, we see how priming can be used as an experimental aid and to what extent it can influence the subjects. Chiao, Heck, Nakayama, and Ambady (1) consider the notion of whether priming a particular racial identity in a mixed-race individual (specifically Black and White mix) would influence the individual’s ability to search for White or Black faces.

Previous Research forms new Experimental Hypothesis:

The authors’ interest in the application of priming to visual perception stems from a lack of empirical research done in this particular field. Priming a certain social identity (race, gender, age, or occupation) and its impact on cognition (in the form of performance on verbal and math tests) has received sufficient theoretical and empirical attention (Shih, Ambady, Richeson, Fujita, and Gray). The authors want to explore the unique situation of mixed race priming. The premise they base their research on is that visual search is important to everyday functioning (Wolfe, 1998), since social recognition, a necessary tool for social communication and survival. Another finding they base their hypothesis on is that Whites detect a Black face among a set of White faces faster than a White face among Black faces (Levin 1996,2000). Levin proposed the race-feature theory off his findings: “Whites code Black faces according to race-specifying features”.

Chiao et al. wanted to investigate the impact of racial-identity priming on biracial individual’s visual search for same and other-race faces, and to compare their performance with that of Black and White individuals (who would serve as the control). Their hypothesis wa...

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...ocus their thoughts). This priming was only applicable when there was ambiguity in the participant (the fact that they were of mixed race). I think the idea that priming requires some original existence of thought, and doesn’t allow for the conception of a new idea in the participant to be a fundamental factor in how we perceive the idea of priming. The is an air of science-fiction when it comes tos the idea of priming and how people can make others do what they want; people surrendering to the will of others. We find a contrast in what priming is actually capable of: it can only nudge the participant in the direction that we want, but not control them with ideas of our own. We can only make people do something that they themselves, in some amount, would consider doing, or would consider themselves as being (eg. Mixed race people being primed as Black or White).