The self-identification of multiracial individuals can also be influenced by the perception of others. Historically, the one-drop rule limited how blacks and biracial whites could identify and legally forced them to identify as blacks in order to deny them equal rights and fair treatment. Echoes of one-drop laws can still be seen today, as blacks and biracial whites are perceived as black rather than white or multiracial if the observer has anti-egalitarian views. [38] It`s a topic that has garnered media attention, with many partially black biracial celebrities and public figures such as Kamala Harris, Tiger Woods, and Meghan Markle often referred to as black rather than biracial heritage. It is important to note that one of the biggest challenges of racial ambiguity is that questioning and miscategorizing one`s ethnicity can have negative effects on mental and emotional well-being. A lack of familiarity with people of this racial or ethnic group increases the likelihood of making a misclassification. Therefore, computers trained to identify faces often make mistakes due to missing data on some races and an overabundance of data on others. [24] This partly explains why people tend to numerically misclassify smaller racial/ethnic groups and interracial people – they are less exposed to the phenotypic characteristics of these races/ethnicities and therefore less familiar. This effect could potentially indicate that, in the face of racial ambiguity, observers often misclassify the actor and therefore have false expectations for social interaction. [27] Another explanation is that racial ambiguity can be cognitively stressful, leading to mental fatigue and less positive interactions. [28] This and other research suggest that racially ambiguous people may have more negative social experiences as well as more stress.
[29] If a person appears racially ambiguous, one might think that they are mixed-race, also known as multiracial, but unable to say which races are included in their background. Eye-tracking technology has allowed researchers to observe which parts of the face people look at the most when determining a stranger`s race or ethnicity for the first time. Studies show that people rely on skin texture and look most at facial areas containing eyes and nostrils when trying to judge someone else`s race. [22] [23] However, in order to properly classify human characteristics as phenotypic for a particular race or ethnic group, individuals must first have sufficient exposure and knowledge of what members of that race or ethnicity look like. Racial ambiguity is the term used when a person`s racial origin is not easily identifiable. They do not appear to be what is commonly called “monoracial” or to belong to a race. Cognitive and social psychologists have studied how people perceive others as belonging to certain racial/ethnic categories, primarily with the aim of understanding how people apply stereotypes to strangers. Psychologists agree that the human brain is wired to automatically divide people into different categories[9][10] to help the brain make predictions about behavior based on observations of similar people in the past. [11] [12] Nevertheless, race or ethnicity is often one of the first things people notice when they meet a new person, and judgments about identity are unlikely to change without presenting new solid evidence to the contrary. This is partly due to cognitive inertia, the tendency of our beliefs to resist change, and racial essentialism.
Racial essencealism is a view that race/ethnicity has an inherited, innate, and unchanging “essence.” [19] Although genetic and biological research confirms that there is no biological basis for race or genetic profile common to people with the same racial category, racial essentialism is a common secular theory that promotes rigid notions about social hierarchies. [20] For this reason, it is highly unlikely that once a judgment is rendered about another person`s race or ethnic origin, the observer will consider that his or her initial judgment could change because he or she expects race and ethnicity to be determined at birth. Even if their initial perception was wrong, they are unlikely to look for other evidence that could help correct their misclassification because they assumed they were correct and that their perception should not change. Although he often feels that people experience the physical world around them accurately, in reality, other people`s perceptions are biased by previous experiences and their own identity. [21] Often, racial ambiguity may be the result of parents of different races, but this is not always the case; A person of monoracial background can also sometimes seem racially ambiguous. Working with mixed-race people who may seem racially ambiguous is an important topic for further investigation. Verywell would like to thank Dr. Jennifer Noble for her important contributions to the revision of this article. Dr.
Noble is a licensed psychologist, parenting coach, associate professor of psychology and lecturer in Los Angeles, California.