Perspektif Psikoloji Dergisi 2.Sayı- TOBB ETÜ Psikolojik Bakış Topluluğu

Article Review: In Infancy The Timing of Emergence of
The Other-race Effect is Dependent onFace Gender
Tugce Tuğçe GÜRCAN Gürcan
In the article “Infancy the timing of emergence
of the other-race effect is dependent on face
gender” (2015) by Diana Su Yun Tham, J. Gavin
Bremner, it is stated that the face recognition
behavior of people of different races is observed in
3-4-month-old infants. In this article, research on
how and depending on which factors it changes
between infants aged 6-9 months are mentioned.
Infants are born with their own face detection
systems. While this system was initially set up
to pay attention to everything, it narrows over
time as infants specialize in the face shape
they experience most.
There are different results from different studies
on exactly when infants develop the other-race
effect. The reason for these differences in findings
is explained by the difference in the two stimuli
used. Researchers argue that while infants develop
a wider recognition ability in the third month, they
enter the onset of another race effect between 6
and 9 months, while the faces are presented with
external information (Ferguson et al., 2009; Kelly
et al., 2007b, 2009) at the third month. Studies that
have found the reason for this effect have started
26
have presented faces that do not contain external
information [Hayden et al. (2007) and Sangrigoli
and de Schonen (2004)]. However, according
to the article, the reason for the differences in
this research may be due to the transition to
configurational processing rather than the effect
of other races. Or, to put it another way, Hayden et
al. (2007) and Sangrigoli and de Schonen (2004),
who found evidence of other racial influence at
three months of age, presented only female faces,
while Kelly et al. (2007b, 2009) used both male and
female faces. This may be why women, who are
the primary caregivers of infants, prefer their faces.
As in these examples, two-stage experiments were
carried out for the research made in the article
mentioning different research and its results. In
the first part, cropped photographs of Chinese,
Malay and Caucasian-White faces were taken from
both the front profile and the right-left profile and
shown to the Caucasian-White infants in order
to eliminate the distinctions of the faces due to
external features. After a certain period of time,
the photo shown after infants get used to it is a
novel for infants. The aim of this present study is
to investigate the interaction of facial gender and
facial race in infants.
Visual paired comparison (Kelly et al., 2007,
2009) and visual preference (Quinn et al., 2002,
2008) were used in previous studies to evaluate
face recognition and preference in studies
with Caucasian-White infants aged 3-4 months
and 8-9 months methods have been used. In
3-month-old infants, their attachment to their
primary female caregiver was that women of
their own race recognized faces from women of
other races but did not recognize them in male
faces, while 9-month-olds preferred faces of their
own race to other races, both male and female,
thanks to their cumulative facial recognition
skills. It was based on looking at the new face for
a longer period of time to detect face recognition.
Between the familiarization and testing phases,
they exchanged facial appearances, allowing face
recognition to be tested.
According to the information they obtained,
they obtained two important results. First, facial
recognition in 3-month-old infants is dependent
on both gender and race. The second finding
is that after 8-9 months, infants are better at
recognizing their own race regardless of gender.
Researchers combined different techniques by
making use of previous research to find answers
to their questions. This gave them the opportunity
to reduce external factors as much as possible.
They clearly explained the methods they used in
their articles and presented their research results
with evidence. However, the fact that they only
used infants whose primary caregivers were
mothers may cause some confusion.
For example, in infants whose primary caregivers
are male, does the condition result in better
discrimination of male faces?
Is this racial discrimination related to the habitual
processes of infants, or will it have any impact
on their future lives? Frankly, I want to do longterm
research on these issues. For example, the
inclusion of the question of what will be the
racial segregation behavior of a baby growing up
in a multicultural environment would have allowed
us to see whether babies would be less sensitive to
the different racial faces they saw. In some studies,
different levels of contact of infants with their own
and other races’ faces contribute to ORE, and low
memory of other races’ faces may be due to a lack of
expertise in distinguishing these faces (Brigham and
Malpass, 1985; Hancock and Rhodes, 2008; Rhodes,
Ewing, et al., 2009). Consistent with this contact
hypothesis, continued contact with other racial faces
can reduce or even reverse ORE (McKone, Brewer,
MacPherson, Rhodes, & Hayward, 2007; Sangrigoli,
Pallier, Argenti, Ventureyra, & de Schonen, 2005).
Rhodes and colleagues (Hancock & Rhodes, 2008;
Rhodes, Ewing, et al., 2009 )) also show that people
with more frequent contact with other races tend to
exhibit a smaller ORE. However, there is one thing to
keep in mind simply passive contact with other racial
faces without active discrimination may not improve
their ability to recognize these faces (see also Yovel
et al., 2012 ). That is, the quality, not the quantity,
of contact with other racial faces modulates Ore
(Bukach, Cottle, Ubiwa, & Miller, 2012 ).
As a result, we can examine this issue from many
different angles, but none of our hypotheses can
claim that ORE is the result of just one process.
Although there is no data that we can generalize
about this multi-layered subject, it continues
to be examined from many perspectives, and
interesting findings are presented.
27