11. Dezember 2025 – fbs (youtube)
Today “Culture Vultures” dives into a phenomenon many of us encounter at some point in our lives: the Cross-Race Effect.
This effect describes our tendency to recognise faces of our own – or most familiar – ethnicity more easily than those of other groups. Also known as Cross-Race Bias or Own-Race Bias, it is a cognitive pattern rooted in the “ingroup advantage.”
When looking at faces from less familiar ethnic groups, we often focus on broad differences (e.g. skin colour) rather than individual features like the shape of the mouth or nose. As a result, people from those groups are perceived more categorically and less individually.
We share some striking personal examples, e.g. growing up in Germany, I, Florence, was surrounded almost exclusively by white people. Only at age nine, during a visit to Nigeria with my biological parents, did I experience the Cross-Race Effect firsthand.
How about you? Have you noticed this effect in your own life? And have you observed how exposure and interaction with different ethnic groups sharpen your perception – and with it your communication, empathy and cultural intelligence?
– We look forward to your thoughts!
More about Bettina Andresen Guimarães: https://www.authenticwow.com/bettina-a-g/