What does own-race bias refer to?

Own-race bias refers to the tendency for individuals to recognize and identify faces of their own race more accurately than those of different races. This phenomenon is well-documented in psychological research and is thought to stem from the increased exposure individuals have to faces from their own racial or ethnic group compared to those from other groups.

This bias can manifest in various ways, such as being better at distinguishing subtle differences between faces of one’s own race while finding it more challenging to do so for faces from other racial backgrounds. Factors contributing to own-race bias include socialization, familiarity, and perceptual processing, where people become adept at recognizing the features that are most prevalent in their own race’s facial structure. Overall, own-race bias underscores the influence of social and cultural contexts on face recognition abilities.