Location
PANEL: Explorations in Psychology and Global Health
CELA A019
Moderator: Samantha Rohner
Document Type
Presentation - Open Access
Start Date
4-25-2025 11:00 AM
End Date
4-25-2025 12:00 PM
Abstract
Though Multiracial people are the fastest growing racial group in the United States, their historic lack of representation has made the perception of Mixed-Race individuals inconsistent among the general public. Past research has drawn conflicting conclusions on how Multiracial people are categorized in terms of racial background and presumed social attributes. Many of these studies have also relied on computer-generated images that combine two Monoracial faces instead of photos of existing Mixed-Race individuals, which subsequent research has shown to be an imperfect substitute. Furthermore, many of these studies have lacked racial diversity in both participant demographics and the Multiracial individuals assessed, with Latin American and Hispanic people being an especially underrepresented population. An online survey was given to Latine and Hispanic American participants to assess their racial and social perception of faces from the American Multiracial Faces Database and the Chicago Faces Database. They were then asked about their perceived level of social contact with members of different racial groups. Regression analyses were conducted to measure the relationship between cross-racial social contact among the participants and perceived racial ambiguity of the Multiracial faces has on these perceptions.
Keywords:
Psychology, Multiracial, Perception
Recommended Citation
Reed, Gideon, "The Impact of Cross-Racial Social Contact on Multiracial Perception" (2025). Research Symposium. 4.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/researchsymp/2025/presentations/4
Major
Psychology
Project Mentor(s)
Rebecca Totton, Psychology
2025
Included in
The Impact of Cross-Racial Social Contact on Multiracial Perception
PANEL: Explorations in Psychology and Global Health
CELA A019
Moderator: Samantha Rohner
Though Multiracial people are the fastest growing racial group in the United States, their historic lack of representation has made the perception of Mixed-Race individuals inconsistent among the general public. Past research has drawn conflicting conclusions on how Multiracial people are categorized in terms of racial background and presumed social attributes. Many of these studies have also relied on computer-generated images that combine two Monoracial faces instead of photos of existing Mixed-Race individuals, which subsequent research has shown to be an imperfect substitute. Furthermore, many of these studies have lacked racial diversity in both participant demographics and the Multiracial individuals assessed, with Latin American and Hispanic people being an especially underrepresented population. An online survey was given to Latine and Hispanic American participants to assess their racial and social perception of faces from the American Multiracial Faces Database and the Chicago Faces Database. They were then asked about their perceived level of social contact with members of different racial groups. Regression analyses were conducted to measure the relationship between cross-racial social contact among the participants and perceived racial ambiguity of the Multiracial faces has on these perceptions.
