While much of the tendency for same-race couples to form romantic relationships is likely explained by shared social groups, interests, beliefs and geography, one potentially important factor that has not yet been extensively considered, is that people may perceive members of their own-race to be more physically attractive than members of other-races. Research suggests that physical attractiveness plays a major role in partner choice, particularly for men, but also for women (for reviews see Rhodes, 2006; Gallup and Frederick, 2010; Little, Jones, and DeBruine, 2011), and so it is plausible that people tend to choose own-race partners partially because they perceive own-race partners to be more attractive than other-race partners.
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There is a widespread belief, particularly among proponents of whiteness studies, that notions of beauty are determined by power relationships. The strong and mighty are inevitably ‘beautiful.’ This belief is so entrenched that little concern is shown for counterfactual evidence, such as the medieval trade in fair-skinned women for clients in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.Lähde
This trade existed for two reasons. On the one hand, European states were too weak to stop it. On the other, European women were considered beautiful by people in geopolitically stronger states to the south and east. Again, this pattern is inconsistent with the belief that power relationships determine notions of beauty.
Alla on kuva James G. Martin:in 60-luvulla tekemästä tutkimuksesta, jollaisia näkee harvoin. Tutkimuksessa näytettiin valkoisille ja mustille miehille kuvia valkoisista ja mustista naisista. Tutkimuksessa kävi ilmi valkoisten amerikkalaisten ja afroamerikkalaisten pitävän enimmäkseen parhaimman näköisinä valkoisia naisia. Muistaakseni kuitenkin nigerialaiset miehet pitivät vähän enemmän mustia naisia paremman näköisinä, mutta nigerialaiset näkivät myös valkoiset naiset kauniina. Olen lukenut kyseisen tutkimuksen kuukausia sitten, mutta jostain syystä en löydä tutkimusta ilmaiseksi luettavaksi. Martin taisi lopuksi todeta saman asian, mitä monet sosiologit toistaa, että tähän valkoisten naisten tykkäämiseen vaikuttaisi mahdollisesti valkoisten valta-asema tai jotain sellaista.
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Cephalometric studies have confirmed skeletal and dental differences between Negroes and Caucasians (Altemus, 1960; Altemus, 1963; Drummond, 1968; Kowalski, Nasjleti and Walker, 1974; Jacobson, 1978; Enlow, Pfister, Richardson et al., 1982). Altemus (1960; 1963) compared his sample with Burstone’s Caucasian standards and demonstrated protrusiveness of both hard and soft tissues in the Negroid subjects. While the upper facial profiles were similar in Blacks and Whites, Blacks exhibited more protrusive lips and teeth. Drummond (1968) found that Black Americans had a large, strong tongue and flaccid lips which allowed the teeth to be in a procumbent position. This together with the thickness of the lips made the lower face appear very full. Kowalski, Nasjleti and Walker (1974) found significant variation between Caucasians and Negroes in variables such as the proclination of the lower incisor, the degree of maxillary prognathism, the cant of the occlusal plane and interincisal angle. Jacobson (1978) demonstrated cephalometrically that South African Blacks had shorter, more anteriorly placed maxillae, shorter ramus height and severe proclination of lower incisors. Enlow et al. (1982) showed differences in features such as ramus width, ramus angulation and the orientation of the middle cranial fossa between Whites and Blacks.Lähde
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Martin (1964) explored the issue of race and ethnicity in his assessment of female beauty. He used 10 photographs of African Americans from Ebony and Sepia magazines which were ranked in order of aesthetic appeal by a group of 50 African American, 50 Caucasian American and 50 Nigerian students. Each group judged the beauty of the female face and the results showed that both African and Caucasian Americans preferred the more Caucasian appearing photographs while the Nigerian students preferred the more Negroid-appearing photographs. Thomas (1979) and De Loach (1978) both evaluated the soft tissue profile of the American Black woman. Thomas surveyed Black and White orthodontists and found that both groups preferred Black females with a mildly convex and straighter profile. De Loach used the same 10 profiles and surveyed 224 Black females instead. The females in his sample, like the orthodontists in Thomas’ investigation, also preferred the straighter profile.
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With respect to gender, the findings of this study indicated that males and females were similar in their choice of the preferred facial profile ( Tables 4.7 and 4.8 ). This was in agreement with the findings of Polk et al. (1995) and Morar (2007) who demonstrated the preference of both males and females for relatively flat facial profiles. A noteworthy finding of this study was the consensus amongst the peer groups regarding the relative unattractiveness of the images representing the extremes of profile protrusiveness and retrusiveness (Tables 4.1 to 4.4). This observation lends support to the arguments of evolutionary theorists and others who believe that ‘average’ faces are beautiful (Edler, 2001).
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Clear ethnic differences in profile preference were demonstrated where Blacks preferred a greater degree of protrusiveness when compared with the selections made by Indians, Coloureds and Whites.
Google kuvahaulla päädyin korealaiseen kauneusaiheiseen sivustoon, josta löytyi kolmen perinteisen rodun naisista tehdyt keskiarvoiset symmetriset yhdistelmä kuvat. Näiden kuvien perusteella ei pidä olettaa ainoastaan tämän näköisten naisten olevan kauniita, mutta ei sitä varmaan moni voi kiistää, etteikö nämä keskimääräiset naiset olisi hyvännäköisiä. Olen tällaisista kuvista aiemmin kertonut, mutta laittakaa kuvissa merkille ihon virheettömyys tai tasaisuus, joka on yksi merkittävä tekijä kauneudessa, jota varsinkin naiset puutereilla ja voiteilla yrittävät ylläpitää, koska akneinen, ryppyinen ja muutenkin maksaläiskäinen iho näyttää epäterveeltä ja vanhalta. Toiseksi näyttää siltä, että ihmiset tykkäävät yleensä keskimääräisistä kasvoista ja vartaloista esim. omassa etnisessä ryhmässä, koska aivot mahdollisesti päättelee niiden olevan parhaimmat elinympäristöön.
Naisilla kasvot ovat pitkälti samankaltaiset ja tällaiset sirot kasvot ovat myös feminiiniset, mutta siitä huolimatta näistä kuvista pystyy vielä tunnistamaan rodun. Ihmiset voivat hyvinkin olla tulevaisuudessa enemmän tämännäköisiä, jos tällaisista kasvoista tykätään enemmän ja tällaista tulevaisuutta tietysti monet mokuttajat ja antirasistit toivovat, että ihmiset olisivat nykyistä enemmän samannäköisiä. Kuitenkin voimme esimerkiksi nähdä europidiä esittävän naisen olevan vähän tumma vaikka myös vaaleat eurooppalaiset naiset ovat myös kauniita ja esimerkiksi mustalla naisella on vastaavasti nenä aika pieni verrattuna siihen, mitä se on yleensä mustilla.
Aasialainen nainen näyttää nuorimmalta tai tyttömäiseltä luultavasti osaltaan vaaleammasta ihonväristä johtuen. Tämä on mielestäni tyypillisistä keskimäärin aasialaisille naisille, että heillä on vähän yleisemmin tyttömäiset kasvonpiirteet. Tämä johtuu siitä, että aasialaisilla kasvonpiirteet jäävät yleisemmin lättäniksi varsinkin sivusta katsottuna, jonka takia kasvoissa ei ole yleisesti samalla tavalla muotoja kuin europideillä tai negrideillä, joista esim. negrideillä esiintyy yleisemmin huomattavaa prognatismia tai kasvojen alaosan eteenpäin työntymistä aiheuttaen omalta osaltaan maskuliinisuutta. Kyllä myös muiden rotujen naisten kasvoissa voidaan havaita maskuliinisuutta, kuten huomattavaa kulmikkuutta ja tunnetusti aasialaisilla on huomattavat poskiluut. Tästä voi aina kiistellä, että mitkä tekijät ovat maskuliinisia kasvoissa, mutta lähtökohtaisesti kasvot naisella pitäisi olla sirommat verrattuna mieheen ja täytyy myös muistaa kauneuden olevan myös vähän katsojan silmissä.
Mustien naisten osalta on varsinkin tuotu kriittisesti esille, että jotta musta nainen voisi olla kaunis tulee hänen yleensä olla vähän kuin suklaaseen dipattu valkoinen nainen, joka ei ole huomattavalle osalle mustista naisista mahdollista ellei sitten käytä tekohiuksia, vaalenna vähän ihoa ja käy kauneusleikkauksessa. Tämä sitten aiheuttaa monille mustille naisille paineita, kun kauneusihanne on tällainen, josta sitten on yleensä tapana syyttää valkoisia tai eurooppalaisia ja myös mustia miehiä.
The answer to what makes a face attractive has been debated for generations and studied in different disciplines. The current study investigated African American and Caucasian males' evaluation (attraction) to racialized female faces. Faces varied from 100% African American to 100% Caucasian (and included variations that were 25% of either group, or 50% of both groups). Twenty African American and 30 Caucasian men each viewed ten faces, and evaluated them in terms of their appearance and the likelihood that the men would interact with (befriend, date, or marry) the person pictured. Findings revealed that African American men found the 100% African American face attractive (and more positive in other respects), with decreasing evaluations for the 75%, 50% and 25% African American faces. African American men evaluated the 100% Caucasian face more positively than the mixed race faces. White men, in contrast, viewed the 100% African American face as least attractive (and least favorable in other respects), and the Caucasian face most attractive (and favorable). Findings were discussed in terms of the significance for stereotyping, attractiveness, race relations, and future research.Lähde - 2 - 2
Research in the area of facial attractiveness has examined the role of race in the perception of beauty, revealing that regardless of our own skin color, we tend to prefer light skin to dark skin in most matters of choice. Subsequently, the current research, utilizing morphed faces combined in varying degrees Black, White, and Asian facial characteristics, was expected to corroborate with past research by showing that participants found the “pure” White face the most attractive and the “pure” Black face the least attractive. Instead, participants found least attractive the “pure” Asian face. The results are discussed in terms of prior research with a focus on the concept of familiarity.Lähde
A visual preference procedure was used to examine preferences among faces of different ethnicities (African, Asian, Caucasian, and Middle Eastern) in Chinese 3-month-old infants exposed only to Chinese faces. The infants demonstrated a preference for faces from their own ethnic group. Alongside previous results showing that Caucasian infants exposed only to Caucasian faces prefer same-race faces (Kelly et al., 2005) and that Caucasian and African infants exposed only to native faces prefer the same over the other-race faces (Bar-Haim, Ziv, Lamy, & Hodes, 2006), the findings reported here (a) extend the same-race preference observed in young infants to a new race of infants (Chinese), and (b) show that cross-race preferences for same-race faces extend beyond the perceptually robust contrast between African and Caucasian faces.Lähde
Research involving race as a criterion for various social choices indicates that race may rival attractiveness for the determination of dating choices. This possibility was explored in two experiments involving “desirability for a date” ratings of black and white stimulus persons who varied in attractiveness. Experiment 1 results indicated that white male and female subjects gave appreciable weight to race and attractiveness, but females gave race more weight than attractiveness, while attractiveness was given more weight than race by males. The interaction between race and attractiveness had approximately the same form for males and females: attractive black stimulus persons were lumped together with unattractive stimulus persons.Lähde
Female subjects in Experiment 2, who were informed about an opportunity to date a stimulus person of their choice before seeing slides of stimulus persons, tended to discount attractiveness as a criterion for choices. None of these subjects were willing to accept an actual date. It was noted that race may be a stronger rival to attractiveness relative to the more abstract factors with which attractiveness has been compared, because race, like attractiveness, is highly concrete and visible.
Being that you are Asian, it definitely limits you to … the amount of different girls you can go for. Like if you are an Asian guy, girls you can pretty much go for are Asian girls. Going for other ethnicities is definitely like much harder. Like especially if you don't live in a large metropolitan area, then it's just difficult. It's just like not widely accepted, and girls don't consider Asian guys…. I think it's just like self imposed. …. I think like to some extent my standards are too high.Lähde
Some members of stigmatized groups, such as Asian women, may be more likely to experience negative self-evaluations after exposure to a mainstream beauty standard than members of other stigmatized groups, such as Black women. In this study, 54 Asian women, 52 Black women, and 64 White women, were exposed to mainstream standards of beauty and compared themselves to these idealized images. It was hypothesized that although Black women would find these comparisons irrelevant, Asian women would see these targets as relevant for their comparisons, reflecting their striving for mainstream beauty standards. The results indicated that Black women did not find mainstream standards as relevant to themselves, and reported positive self-evaluations generally and about their bodies in particular. Asian women, on the other hand, responded differently than Black women and were more likely to endorse mainstream beauty standards in a similar fashion to White women. As predicted, Asian women also experienced greater dissatisfaction with their bodies than did Black women.Lähde
The purpose of this study was to assess how women's perceptions of themselves and their bodies vary by race/ethnicity and class. One hundred and fourteen female students (45 African-American, 69 Caucasian) from two Connecticut community colleges were surveyed. We predicted that African-American women will report higher levels of self-esteem and a more positive body image than Caucasian women. These predictions were supported. Also as predicted, African-American women report possessing more masculine traits and that men of their race tend less to prefer thin, small figured women. Controlling for these“protective factors” substantially reduces the relationship between race/ethnicity and self-concept.African-American women's racial identity and exposure to the dominant culture did not relate to self-concept measures.Lähde
What does it take to find a member of a different race attractive? In this research, we suggest that for Whites, attraction to Asians may be based, in part, on stereotypes and variations in Asians' racial appearance. Study 1 reveals that Asians are stereotyped as being more feminine and less masculine than other racial groups-characteristics considered appealing for women but not for men to possess. Study 2 examines how variation in racial appearance, phenotypic prototypicality (PP), shapes the degree to which Asians are gender stereotyped and how PP relates to perceptions of attractiveness. Higher PP Asian men are perceived as being less masculine and less physically attractive than lower PP Asian men. These findings inform theory on how within-group variation in racial appearance affects stereotyping and other social outcomes.Lähde
Caucasian and Latino profiles received over 50% more responses as compared to African American and Asian profiles. Furthermore, Caucasian and Latino males were over 75% more likely to get a private instant message invitation than their African American counterparts and over 50% more likely compared to Asian Americans. In all 8 city/site comparison groups Black men received the lowest number of responses followed by Asian men. White men received the highest number of responses in Los Angeles and Chicago, while Latino men ranked highest in number of hits and responses in San Francisco and New York. This was an unexpected finding. It is possible that this results from the fact that Latinos are visually the closest to Caucasian in terms of features and skin tones, however these results bear further investigation. Nonetheless, a clear picture emerges from the data: White and Latino men receive the most responses and invitations; Black and Asian men receive the fewest.Lähde
The inter-racial marriage gap that opened in the past 50 years is generally attributed to a decline in the availability of young black marriageable men. We contend that the associated shortage of desirable men in the marriage market provides those black men who are sought after with the opportunity to attain a high status spouse, which has placed a premium on black women with lighter skin. We provide evidence, based on data drawn from the Multi City Study of Urban Inequality, consistent with this hypothesis. Our theoretical analysis of the marriage market reveals that marriage promotion policies to increase the desire to marry on the part of young black women will serve to exacerbate the importance attached to skin shade.Lähde
Likewise, in Maracay, Venezuela, I experienced a similar level of invisibility from a 6-year-old girl, who can be easily labeled a black girl based on her skin complexion. While attending a family gathering with my wife and some friends, this girl, who was leaving, kissed everybody goodbye except me. I was sitting next to my white, American and Norwegian friends, and she jumped on and kissed all of them, but skipped me. When my wife, my mother-in-law, and her own parents, out of embarrassment, asked this girl why she did not kiss me, she replied saying, "A mi no me gusta a los negros" (I do not like black people).Lähde
African American female facial anthropometric measures, especially those of the horizontal dimension, differ significantly from those of young white subjects. The average African American woman does not fit the neoclassical standard of facial proportion.Lähde
Although the average KA (Korean American) woman's facial anthropometric measurements were very different from those of the NAW (North American white) woman, attractive KA women reflected many of the facial features of NAW women. These findings support the need for ethnically sensitive facial canons and further research into transcultural aesthetics.Lähde
Paul explains that anyone who could ‘pass’ as American is classified muzungu, however his definition of ‘American’ is stereotypically Caucasian.Lähde
“A muzungu, let me say all of those people…like even the white-white skin…those people. Let me say not Africans.”
“Not Africans? So would you say that Indians are muzungu?”
“Indians are not muzungu.”
“And Chinese?”
“Chinese are not muzungu.”
“Not?”
“Ya…You know people know that the only muzungu you call a muzungu are from America, Russia those places. The Chinese the way they look, they know. Is it a muzungu? No, it is a Chinese. Is that a muzungu? No, Indian.”
“So am I a muzungu?”
“Yes you are a muzungu…because if you say ‘I am from US,’ they will say ‘yes.’’
“They will believe me?”
“Yes, because you look like them. But now a Chinese, they can’t lie. Japanese, they can’t lie. Indian they can’t lie.”
However, no matter what type of cosmetic product a Chinese consumer uses, she cannot permanently turn her skin into the pallor of a typical Aryan Caucasian model’s. First, she fundamentally cannot alter her innate DNA composition.Lähde
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Skin-whitening is only one facet of a larger, rapidly growing industry in East Asia for female body modification practices that physically alter Asian bodies to better emulate Western features. These practices include eyelid surgeries where a woman’s eyelid crease is cut to create an eyelid fold (making one’s eyes appear bigger, rounder, and more Western looking), breast enhancements, hair dye treatments that turn naturally brown or black Asian hair platinum blonde, and even leg elongation surgery.
One of the things I always felt growing up as someone of mixed racial heritage was that I didn’t fit anywhere. On the one hand, I was presented with the white image of beauty as the blue-eyed, blond haired, tall, skinny, big-breasted All-American girl. On the other hand was the Asian image of beauty as petite, slender, long dark hair, exotic features, and pale skin, actresses like Lucy Liu, Ming Na Wen, and the women in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The only thing I had in common with any of those images was that I was fair-skinned, otherwise I never felt like I measured up.Lähde
For people of mixed backgrounds, you kind of fall through the cracks when you look at fashion magazines. It’s also true that Asian women try to look more white. My mother, for instance, puts tape on her eyelids to make them look rounder. One of my Korean friends once told me I was lucky that I had pale skin because when she went to Korea, people told her she looked like "a country girl" because she’s naturally tan. There are also operations that some girls get to make their eyes look more "white," and some girls get nose jobs to make their noses look more "white."
This doesn’t occur only in the States either; in Korea, plastic surgery is a huge industry. It’s because they also get Western fashion magazines there and are presented with the Caucasian standard of beauty and will get nose jobs, fix their eyes, and get operations on their jaws to make their faces look less round, less Asian and more white. When you look at women like Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles, who both have blond highlights and look like white women with tans, you realize that racism still plays itself out in what we are presented with as "beautiful."
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Studies of female beauty reveal light skin and Eurocentric features, such as long straight hair and smaller noses, to be more appealing than darker skin and Afrocentric features, such as kinky hair, broader noses, and larger lips (Hill, 2002; Swami, Furnham, & Joshi, 2008).Lähde
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I’m not trying to be racist but I think dark skinned and dark skinned should be together and light skinned and light skinned should be together and whites and whites should be together”. When asked if she could elaborate, she stated, “Because it’s [within-race and between-race mixing] just not right…I don’t know, it’s just something that irritates me about it.
The results from the paired t-test, one-way ANOVA and with multiple comparisons had shown that only symmetrical Indian faces are preferred. For the other races, symmetrical males did not score significantly higher than normal faces. The results from the one-way ANOVA test with multiple comparisons done o degree of facial asymmetry showed that the horizontal degree of facial symmetry is similar for all four races without significant difference, the vertical degree of facial symmetry is similar for all races except for Indians who had an exceptionally high level of vertical degree of symmetry. Results from one-way ANOVA done on normal and symmetrical faces had shown two trends. The first trend is that Chinese faces are ranked the lowest whereas the second trend is that Caucasian faces ranked the highest of all races. The results reflected that there could a racial element in the perception in addition to the symmetry of the face in a multicultural and multiracial society.Lähde
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Löysin mielenkiintoisen tutkimuksen, jossa puhutaan paljon roduista ja kauneudesta liittyen varsinkin mainontaan kuinka tutkijoiden mukaan olisi parempi tuoda varsinkin amerikkalaisissa mainoksissa nykyistä enemmän esille muiden rotujen ihmisiä, eikä enimmäkseen laihoja valkoisia naisia ja maskuliinisia valkoisia miehiä.
Deracialsation is a term used to deliberately change your ethnicity by using cosmetic surgery procedures. In today’s western culture we are constantly bombarded by the media through television, advertisement and magazines with exposure to the idealistic image for men and women, with the dominance by many cultures being a preferred western image, which ironically contains a pale complexion. It would be hard to not be influenced by such forceful and persuading media campaigns to conform to a certain image. Unsurprisingly deracialisation surgery is flourishing in eastern countries where it has become surprisingly easy with little restrictions for surgeons to change your identity within a few hours, with the majority of patients travelling there to obtain the apparently ideal Caucasian features. As the BBC 4 documentary named ‘Bleach, Nip Tuck: the white beauty myth’ discusses, foreign people living in today’s communities feel the western look forced upon and feel judged for being a different nationality in a world which dictates us to look a certain way, and to fit into their social groups they need to conform to the ideal western image.Lähde
Despite this, the ‘melting pot’ has largely been utilized to develop marketing communications. Images of thin Caucasian women and hyper-masculine Caucasian men are used to sell products and endorse brands with only 5% of the world’s population able to achieve this ideal. Those that can’t achieve this ideal make attempts through cosmetic treatments, excessive dieting and exercise. This is evident when observing cosmetic-industry figures, and with total 2012 revenue of $54.9 billion, the US is the biggest cosmetic market in the world (Schulz 2013). Furthermore, American consumers spent $11 billion on cosmetic treatments in 2012 (Babbitt 2013) with a significant increase in double eyelid surgery amongst Asian-American consumers (this gives the crease of skin between the eyelashes and eyebrow generally associated with Caucasian eyes). Media personalities like Oprah have commented on the procedure saying, “That would be like me having surgery to not look black. I don’t get it” (Stokel-Walker 2013). This begs the question, if American consumers consider the media portrayed beauty as the ‘ideal’, does this then imply that consumers, regardless of race, will perceive Caucasian images to be most attractive? The answer to this question is of critical importance to advertisers in the US because of the significant shifts in the ethnic makeup of the American population; Caucasians are already a minority among children under 5 years of age, and they will become a minority in the entire US population in less than three decades (Yen 2013).Lähde
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Even as the world’s marketers try to become more global, there remain strong inhibiting forces (Grier, Brumbaugh, and Thornton 2006), namely race. There is currently a pressing need to determine how best to advertise to ethnic minorities (Grier et al. 2006). A primary reason that has been offered for a lack of ethnically diverse faces in marketing stimuli is a fear of negative attitudes from the majority Caucasian population or a ‘white backlash’ (Brumbaugh 2002). So despite the growth of ethnic minority groups in many societies, most advertisers have failed to reflect today’s realities and have tended towards excluding or minimizing ethnic minorities from their advertising mix (Grier et al. 2006). In fashion, models from diverse cultural backgrounds tend to be used more as a novelty with models often rejected based on their ethnic background (Padilla and Perez 2003).
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To address this issue in relation to facial attractiveness, it is important to first look at biological drivers. One of the most fundamental problems for any organism is mate selection. Physical cues play a significant role in the selection of romantic partners (Winkielman et al. 2006), thus facial attractiveness has a biological function. Scientists have identified certain characteristics that are believed to reveal one’s reproductive potential and therefore lead to higher ratings of attractiveness. For instance:
Pathogen resistance: Men and women in cultures with high pathogen prevalence such as a weaker immune system (e.g., Nigeria, Zambia, and India) rated facial attractiveness as a more important trait in selection of their long-term mates as compared to men and women from cultures with low pathogen prevalence (e.g., West Germany, Sweden, and Norway) (Winkielman et al. 2006).
Symmetry: Bilateral symmetry is thought to be a phenotypic indicator of a pathogen-free organism. Under ideal developmental conditions, paired physical features develop in synchronicity (Rhodes 2006). Evolutionary theorists believe that only the hardiest and healthiest of a given population possess the ability to develop symmetrically in harsh environmental conditions (Rhodes 2006). Therefore, a person with a symmetrical face is likely to receive higher attractiveness ratings.
Race: Race is considered an important element with visual perceptions. Studies examining preferences among faces of different races, found that infants demonstrated favoritism for faces from their own ethnic group (Bar-Haim, Ziv, Lamy, and Hodes 2006).
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From an evolutionary standpoint, perceptions of facial attractiveness could be explained through socio-biological theory and mating behavior which postulates that a biological basis exists for the phenomenon of people preferring others of the same ethnicity or race (McPhersonet al. 2001). Previous studies have proposed that “like attracts like”, in other words, people seek mates similar to themselves (GilWhite 2001). This is attributed to Genetic Similarity theory which explains ethnic nepotism. People’s need to identify and be with others from their own race is said to be due to one’s genes producing effects that allow bearers to recognize and favor each other (McPherson et al. 2001). Further support is offered by the homophily principle (GilWhite 2001) which explains that similarity breeds connection and limits people’s social worlds in a way that has important consequences for the information they receive. In addition to finding their racial match more appealing, people are more likely to sit in closer physical proximity to those from their own ethnic background (McPherson et al. 2001). Tajfel (2010) also explored this notion acknowledging that people define themselves based on the groups to which they belong.
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For the purpose of this research, it’s important to clarify the distinctions between race, ethnicity, ethnic identity, and acculturation. Throughout this study we make a distinction between race and ethnicity. When we mention race in our empirical work, we refer to an objectively determined classification. In contrast, we use ethnicity as a self-perception. Ethnicity broadly groups individuals based on race and culture of origin (Phinney 1996). Therefore, ethnicity is nested under race, with many ethnic groups (e.g., Malay, Han, Korean, Japanese) nested within a given race (Asian). Race can be typically identified from physical features, while the same is not always possible for ethnicity. Moreover, ethnicity ignores important differences among individuals (Phinney 1996), who vary in their ethnic identity and degree of acculturation.
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A more recent study in the UK found that young people from ethnic minorities were twice as likely to have a circle of friends exclusively from their own community (Phillips 2005), and 95% of Caucasian Britons indicated that all or most of their friends were also Caucasian. Potential conflict has been attributed to avoidance of cross-cultural interaction. For instance, Asian-Americans who wish to pursue an interracial relationship often face objection from their parents (Nguyen, Messe, and Stollak 1999). In addition, Tsai, Ying and Lee (2000) concluded that couples of similar ethnic backgrounds tend to experience fewer communication and understanding obstacles. This desire to pursue a relationship with someone from the same ethnic background has been attributed to a lack of exposure to people from different cultures and xenophobia (Nguyen et al. 1999).
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Social identity theory (Tajfel 2010) suggests a strong relationship between one’s self concept and group identification. Tajfel (2010) found that a positive identity is derived from favorable comparisons between those most similar to oneself. Unlike a national identity, an ethnic identity cannot be chosen by the individual; rather it is determined at birth (Tajfel 2010). Furthermore, one’s ethnicity is clearly visible whereas one’s national identity is not obvious to the observer.
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In our experiment, we used frontal black and white photos of 30 male and 30 female faces equally distributed in three racial groups. The 20 Asian faces were drawn from the CUHK Face Sketch Database (Wang and Tang 2009) while the 20 African and 20 Caucasian faces were drawn from the face database by the Center for Vital Longevity (Minear and Park 2004). We chose Caucasian, African and Asian faces because, as argued earlier, our focus is on racial matching between subjects and stimuli. It is easier to measure the typicality of these three main races in terms of their anthropometric features.
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While Figure 2 might be only meaningful to the specialist (anthropologist, plastic surgeon, etc.), it becomes intuitive when considered along with Figure 3, which displays the scores for each face in the same SAVE dimensions. Comparing Figures 2 and 3, one concludes that the three racial groups are generally different in their facial features, because they are well separated from each other in the latent SAVE space.
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The results in Table 4 show that in general, subjects tended to rate African faces lower in perceived beauty than others, with a negative (-.05) coefficient for Africaness, statistically significant at the p<.04 level.
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Most important to us, subjects give higher ratings when the stimulus matches their race, thereby confirming our first hypothesis H1, which states that people tend to find more attractive faces that are more representative of their own race.
[...]
Our decision to focus on racial matching rather than ethnic matching was predicated on the difficulty in objectively measuring the degree of matching in ethnicity (rather than race), both in the physical measures (would the anthropometric features of a Cuban of Spanish descent describe a Hispanic or Caucasian?) and self-classification in an ethnic group (would the Cuban of Spanish descent self-classify as Hispanic or Caucasian?). One would expect that the physical features distinguishing Hispanic physiognomies from Caucasians would be less accentuated than with Asian and African features, although these are aspects that deserve further investigation. Given the growing importance of Hispanic consumers in the US market, and the recent growth of the middle class in Latin America (Danel et al. 2012), it would be useful to extend our research to include Hispanic faces as stimuli.
Yllä olevasta lähde linkistä löytyvästä tutkimuksesta löytyi myös kuvia ja kaavioita kolmen suurrodun edustajien ulkonäöstä ja niiden eroista. Tutkijat toivat esille kuinka kaikki johonkin rotuun kuuluvat eivät olleet ulkonäöltään rodulleen tyypillisiä, mutta nähtävästi tämä johtui myös siitä, että esim. yksi afrikkalaiseksi sanottu nainen (BF1) oli todennäköisesti mulatti. Tämä on kuitenkin selvää, etteivät ihmiset ole samalla tavalla rotuja kuin esim. tarkalleen jalostetut koirat, mutta siitä huolimatta luokittelu ei ole suurimmaksi osaksi mahdotonta.
Kauneustutkimuksessani olen tuonut paljon esille kuinka maskuliinisuus on yksi merkittävä tekijä sekarotuisissa parisuhteissa voidaan alla olevasta kuvasta todeta mustan miehen olevan maskuliinisin jo tummemman ihonvärin takia, joka vastaavasti on kielteinen tekijä naiselle, koska tutkimusten perusteella miehet yleisemmin tykkäävät vaaleammasta ihonväristä naisella. Mustalla miehellä voidaan havaita olevan rodulleen tyypillisesti levein nenä, joka muistaakseni oli yhden tutkijankin mukaan maskuliinisuutta lisäävä tekijä, kun taas aasialaisella ja eurooppalaisella miehellä voidaan havaita olevan leveydeltään pienempi nenä, jotka tekevät heistä nenän osalta feminiinisempiä verrattuna mustaan mieheen.
Lähde
