If taken into account that specific areas in the brain are responsible from
recognizing faces, it can be imagined that this is more of a biological
mechanism than you suggest here. Perhaps we are simply not capable of
differentiating facial features of other races. I would not quantify racism
in this way.
Aside from that, I believe that the illustration would be much more powerful
if indeed done with people of different races. I believe it will work and it
seems less trivial than doing the test with ape-faces.
Filip
> Hi Michael,
[snip]
> It occurs to me that you might not need a set of ape faces at all. This
> phenomenon is closely related to the old racial slur, "all orientals look
> alike to me," or "all caucasians look alike to me," or "all black people
> look alike to me," etc, etc.
>> Our ability to perceive distinguishing characteristics is apparently a
> function of the *value* we place on the people or things involved.
>> In the South, 30 years ago, all black people did in fact look alike!!
It's
> amazing how individualized they have become ...
>> You might even be able to *quantify* a culture's racism by testing for
> perceptual acuity ...
>> Cheers,
>> Glen
>
