Why Can't White People Identify Black People?

I don't know if black people would have trouble identifying a white person, but this has come up on a number of TV shows and I can honestly say that if I was the victim of a crime, I might have alot of trouble identifying the black man because I too see one person, then another, and cant tell them apart.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10360/1113570-115.stm

The above link is about a woman who was raped but the man she accused was set free because his DNA didn't match. She didn't falsely accuse him, she just couldn't identify him.

Why do white people have trouble identifying black people? Is it due to some sort of racism, is it something like color blindness, or is there really such similarities between them that its look looking at a set of twins?

Now I know that not everything you see on telly is the truth, but as I myself would have trouble telling one black person from another (but would have no trouble with whites) I wonder if there is anyone else who knows what I'm talking about?

http://academic.udayton.edu/race/03justice/justice03.htm

The link above shows that people have trouble postively identifying people of a different ethnicity.

Has anyone ever experienced this?

 

Many people have poor face recognition. My wife has a hard time recognizing actors when the dress and act differently than she is used to. I am sure there is an element of racism when suspects are falsely identified by white victims. On some level they think that black people are dangerous and that the person they pick in the lineup must be guilty of something; that and an innate desire for revenge and the desire to reduce their feeling of powerlessness. This is unfortunately encouraged by ambitious law enforcement officials.

I however am very good at facial recognition, regardless of race or age. I do not think that throwing out all victim IDs would be beneficial to justice.

 

Your statement is overly general.

White people can identify black people.

Some just don't bother trying. Others don't pay attention to details.

 

This happens not just to black people. The problem is that people don't have that good memories. Sure, the courts think that they do, but we don't. We tend to remember, with people we don't actually know, only certain features that stand out. If someone else has that feature we can become confused.

 

A lot of people get these 2 actors mixed up. Now imagine that you'd never met either of them, or seen them, get with the programme here, and one of them robbed you but the police line up or pictures contained only the other one. You might get confused and decide that since they are similar looking that they police have the right man.

 

I lol'd at this - you race baters... yall poke up everywhere dont cha? That is surly what happens, just evil whitey keeping ol blackie down - they must all be guilty of something, right? ROFL
Keep that racism alive and well, ya here

I am going on memory from a school debate/lecture/discussion as well as some past research because I am tired and bed is calling (don't feel like researching)... I believe the name that was mentioned was the other race effect but I could be incorrect.

Different theory's surround the facial characterization that different races see (or lack) between other races, especially for Caucasians. Most of the studies that I have read in the past state the reasoning that white people have the trouble is because the Caucasian ethnicity is the "most diverse", eg. eye color, hair color; certain more predominate features if you will.

Many races also exhibit the same issue of being able to tell other races apart - this has been theorized that people are coded either by genetics or by their environment to be attracted to, and thus see more differentiating characteristics, between those that are of their own ethnicity. It is odd however that many races point to blacks as being the least identifiable.

Of course there are also the racist studies - there is always the "that's racist" study - that state people cannot differentiate because after they code for the race they prefer they do not look more deeply at the features of an individual. I disagree with this because I have a few friends that date outside their race (one exclusively) and they have both told me that other ethnicitys look similar...

In the end though there are many theories but little concrete evidence as to why this occurs...

 

I think everybody has experienced this phenomenon at one time or another. But I think that article summed it up succinctly:

"Study after study has shown that all of us have difficulty recognizing individuals from other racial or ethnic groups, and that the phenomenon, known as the cross-race effect, is even worse for people in a majority population group.

White Americans have trouble recognizing black Americans. White French people have trouble recognizing Arab immigrants. Chinese people have trouble recognizing Japanese people."

Elizabeth Loftus has done extensive research on misinformation effect and false memories.

Also there has been progress in law enforcement to try and decrease errancy in eye witness testimony, like switching from simultaneous lineups to sequential lineups.

Add - I also would like to mention that when it says 'other racial or ethnic groups' that it would be more accurately stated as 'less familiar racial or ethnic groups'.

 

Makkedde: "Why do white people have trouble identifying black people? Is it due to some sort of racism, is it something like color blindness, or is there really such similarities between them that its look looking at a set of twins?"

I'm not sure your premise is correct. Your experiences may or may not be tyupical. Most of the research on eyewitness has been done by two doctors, Loftus and Loftus, and indicates that eyewitness identification is sorely overrated.

I know black people I have no trouple identifying. I suspect if you did a photo lineup for Martin Luther King, Jr. and for Harry Truman you might get confusing results.

I think mistakes in identity in criminal cases is more attributable to prosecutorial misconduct than anything else.

 

Who are these people? Are they Americans?

 

They can identify black eople, but what about the woman in one of the links I provided? She was raped and would have had time to study the face of her attacker, but she identified the wrong man. Surely she wasn't 'too lazy' to get a good look at him?

 

Black "people" tend to look alike a lot. Of course, there's always exceptions to the rule.... (<--- had to slip that one in there because anti-racists don't often understand exceptions to the rule don't break the rule.)

White people are probably the most diverse racial group on Earth. We have all shades of natural hair color from White to blonde to red to brown to black. Our hair can be naturally soft, fine, curly or bushy as opposed to just kinky. Some of us have freckles. We come in olive skin, in tanned skin, in pale skin and in a reddish skin. We have green eyes, grey eyes, blue eyes, hazel eyes, brown eyes and black eyes. We have thin noses, fat noses, long noses, short noses, Roman noses, hooked noses, button noses, ski-slope noses and refined noses compared to the typical black (negroid) noses that tend to look very similar. Our bone structures can be sharp, refined or unrefined. Scandianavians look totally different to the Spaniards of Europe, Russians look completely different to Italians, Serbs look totally different to Brits and so on and so on and so on... you can't walk from one African country into the next and say the "people" look completely different to the previous "people" you just saw like you can in Europe.

It's a fact, White people are just more diverse, varied and interesting looking compared to black "people" who tend to have a very similar look all round.

You only have to open your eyes and pay attention. It should be obvious to even the most dim-witted anti-racist. But political correctness has clouded a lot of your judgement.

 

It's a proven fact that blacks are better able to give a more accurate description of other blacks.

Blacks refer to skin tone, such as light skinned, dark skinned, red boned etc. The average white person doesn't break it down like that....where black is simply black.

 

It’s the Bar Code in back of the neck that’s a dead giveaway

 

Given your strident posts railing and haranguing against diversity I find your comments here quite interesting.

 

Face recognition is like language. It all depends on what you have been exposed to. In case you haven't noticed, races tend to have similarities within the race that are different outside the race. Of course these are pretty diverse but one of the obvious one is color.

If you were raised a white child in a black community only, you would have no problem discerning different faces but may have trouble among whites.

 

I have absolutely nothing against diversity at all... I just find the level of uncivilized black violence completely UNACCEPTABLE.

Now stop trolling and get back onto the topic.

 

This has been discussed for decades. Eyewitnesses are extremely fallible. It's not just with other races too.

Here try this:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XORIWLgEVwE&feature=related"]Dr. Phil&#39;s Eyewitness Experiment - YouTube[/ame]

There's a link to follow in the after you witness the "crime".

http://drphil.com/slideshows/slideshow/5590/?id=5590&showID=1399

You go here to identify the perp.

Now understand, pay attention to the suspect study him but remember that you are prepared for what you are about to experience.

 

Interesting way of putting it. I can see the sense in that.

 

Nonsense, you have repeatedly made posts on this forum denigrating cultural and racial diversity, why not just own your position? At least have the guts to admit your position. Regardless of this it appears you do not understand the meaning of the word "diversity" .

Im pretty sure you are quite slow at understanding this but I have previously stated this in yet another thread which you ran away from, I work in a majority black environment, I have lived in Africa and Asia in majority black environments, regardless of which Australia is a multicultural country. Do you have learning or comprehension difficulties?

There is no serious scientific opinon or studies which show a link between melanin and crime therefore your assumptions are invalid. I know a lot more about this than you, which should be apparent by now to any reasonably intelligent person.

If you are trying to say that the easily refutable nonsense which you post and then refuse to debate properly when challenged is grown up then I would dispute this.

 

Nonsense, I have often stated I actually quite like south east Asian people because the vast majority of them are nice, quiet, decent, hard-working, law-abiding people. I dislike degenerative behavior which, in my experience, most black "people" subscribe to. You seem to be a little slow...

You have a very hard time understanding what most people say about black crime, uselessness and violence which suggests to me you haven't met many black "people." Australia is notoriously lil-White for the most part with a few Aboriginals and also a few Asians scattered about in parts. Black Africans (negroids) are conspicuous by the absence in Australia and so is White racially aware people as a result.

You have a history of childish posts on this forum. Children make up lies. I simply don't believe your stories. Non-black people who have spent significant amounts of time in majority black enviroments often sing a vastly different tune to the ignorance you post.

There might not be any studies that link melanin to crime, but statistics of reality certainly do.

No one can refute what I say because what I say is based on my personal experiences. Are you honestly stupid enough to suggest you can refute reality with "studies" and propaganda with an obvious agenda? Just what planet are you on?

You don't belong on the Race Relations section of this site. You have nothing to add here.

 

i think its because the darker the skin the harder it is to make out the difference in features. plus if you are attacked a poor lit area by a black person it is harder to see their facial features.

like another person said its easier to identify a white assailant simply because its easier to break down the features such as skin tone, eye color,hair color and hair style, simple birth marks or even scars upon the face or hands, etc. etc.

alot of black males have the same kind of haircut, mostly have the same eye color. unless you get a good well lit and wide open look at them the only real thing you can try to go on is weight,height and do your best to remember the face amongst a group of men who are lined up from one another, and you still may not get it right.

black women are easier to recognize as far as differences considering they have more of a variety of hair styles, even hair color, and facial features are pretty easily distinguishable compared to a black male.

im not trying to be racist by saying all black men look alike, but many are similar. not as much diversity in their features as there is to whites. hell im sorry but i cant distinguish between Japanese,Chinese, or pretty much any oriental as far as looks.

hispanics and latino's are easier for me considering i am one and know more of what to look for, but even they can be hard at times to distinguish between eachother.

and Indians, psshhh lets not even go there lol.

 

they mostly look alike, same with asians and the indian or mestizo hispanics.

the european looking hispanics and caucasians have more visible recognition as they have more genetic diversity in their appearances

 

I have horrible face recognition....no matter the race. Its embarrassing to see someone again but not sure if they are who I think they are. Actually...when I think of it....I study a person intently when I first meet them in hopes they will "stick" in my memory.

Its harder with black people because they have the same hair and eye color.

When a white person changes their hair color on me....they don't ring a bell at all.

 

No, ----head, it is YOU that cannot realize that the blacks cannot make up the 40 point difference that makes them inferior to whites.

 

It's just a matter of exposure. I had most of my offices in white areas [Insurance], and at first I could honestly say I had some trouble telling them apart. Then I made my personal office in a black area, and met many people in the neighborhood, I became close with many through some thirty years..

Point is, I do not have that problem now and can readily tell one from another. There is really no difference, it just seems that way if you basically hang with whites...
Small eyes, large eyes, big foreheads, small ones,,cheek bones high and low,,,it's all the same...

Do you find it the same with Orientals? I would bet you do,,,then again,,,how many do you know,,,,,,see?