[Previous entry: "Inbreeding a problem in lab mice"] [Next entry: "Help activists stop BP from dumping toxins in Great Lakes"]

08/14/2007: "Research obscures racial distinctions"

There's a troubling psychological phenomenon that just about everyone has experienced but few will admit to; having difficulty distinguishing between people of different racial groups.

In a series of experiments, Miami University undergraduates were led to believe that they would view the faces of fellow Miami students (the in-group) and students from Marshall University (a perennial football rival, making them the ultimate out-group) on a computer screen.

In reality, none of the faces, all of whom were white, were students at either university. By merely labeling them, however, the participants better recognized faces that they believed were fellow Miami students.

[ Let me list their errors: first, they used students of the same race, so they were easily remembered. Next, they labelled them specifically as part of a campus group in which the participants had a particular future. Finally, they showed them these people on a computer screen as part of an experiment. Is this "research" junk science? You bet it is. ]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070814154259.htm