applied social psychology Flashcards
what are 75% of false convictions based off of
eyewitness misidentification
-this research is becoming really well known and now it is difficult to accuse someone based on eyewitness testimony
what is eyewitness testimony based off of
face recognition
is face recognition accurate
no
- memory can differ on an individual basis, but there always exists a level of uncertainty
- especially if we have only see someone for a few minutes (someone who had just committed a crime)
what is own race bias or the Cross-Race Effect
we are better at remembering faces of people of the same race compared to members of other races
- when we are asked if we remember someone, if that person is of a different race, our accurate memory of that person declines
- a lot of false eyewitness testimonies occur when the person who accuses someone has a different race of the person being accused
explain “outgroup homogeneity in perception”
- Homogeneity means similarity in a group
- Heterogeneity is dissimilarity across groups
- People think that there is more difference in a group that they are a part of, and more similarity in groups they are not a part of
Ex. They all look the same, they are the same
what do the cross race studies tell us
the Cross-Race effect happens because of perception not actual difference or similarities in certain groups
what is the cross race study about the memory of faces (eyewitness memory and CRE)
Three phases in studies: in order to test memory, have to build up someone’s experience with something
1) Learning phase: people will see faces of their race and another, appear in center of screen and participants passively watch faces
2) Filler task: time for memory to decay, so you are not tested for something immediately after being exposed to it, neutral task
3) Recognition phase: participants see twice as many faces during learning phase, half are new faces and half are faces in the learning phase
- Asked to make decision: have you seen this before or seen for first time?
- False alarms: thinking you have seen something when you have not
- Miss: thinking you have never seen something but you have
Results: People are more accurate with this when they are looking at faces of their own race
-People are more likely to make more false alarms when they are faces of another race
why do the results of the cross race study happen? (two theories)
1) Theory that people have more interactions with people of their own race, so this lets them see the differences in faces more
2) Theory that people pay less attention to faces of other races
- Not actually encoding their faces: how well we encode something in memory
what is the cross-category effect
better face memory for in-group than outgroup members (even if race is held constant)
-if people think someone belongs to the same category as themselves they will pay more attention
explain the study about cross-category effect at Miami University
Study: people used the same university as a category (Miami University)
- Faces were shown on a red background or green background
- Social Group condition: Some faces were shown with “Miami University” under it, others were shown with a different university under it
- Control condition: faces on red or green backgrounds with the word red or green under it
- Memory was tested
Results: when there were no university labels the memory was identical for both colors (color does not make a difference), when there were university labels people showed better memory for the in-group faces rather than the out-group faces (Remembered people from their own university better)
explain the study with minimal group paradigms that shows cross-category effect
- Study with minimal groups (arbitrary groups that the researcher creates in the lab)
- Same design as first study
- Participants were told they were red or green personality and that the colors behind the person’s face they were shown showed what type personality they were a part of
Results: people better remembered the faces who were in the same personality group, even though these groups were made up
so what does cross-category effect show us?
- Making someone an outgroup reduces memory, saying they are an in-group does not influence memory
- Reduced attention as soon as someone is labeled an outgroup member
explain the study with wealthy vs. impoverished backgrounds and the cross-cultural effect
Study: had faces appear in a background, background either appeared wealthy or poor
- All of the faces appeared in center of screen, race was manipulated
- 2 (white vs. black) x 2 (wealthy background vs. impoverished background)
Results: white faces were remembered more in the wealthy background than they were in the impoverished background
-Blacks were remembered the same amount in both backgrounds
what is some evidence that CRE is motivational?
you can improve memory for faces of another race, if you motivate someone to encode them well
what is the study about angry faces that shows CRE is motivational
- Outgroup recognition improves for angry outgroup faces
- White people remembered angry black faces more than neutral black faces, memory improved to that of same race faces (no effect of same race faces and facial expressions)
- People have the ability to better remember faces from other races, they are just not normally motivated to do so
