Gastvortrag von Dr. Anjana Lakshmi am 22.10.2025

1. Oktober 2025, von Jessica Schröter

Am 22.10.2025 (12:15-13:45 Uhr, Von-Melle-Park 11, Raum 4) wird Frau Dr. Anjana Lakshmi (Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Indiana Bloomington, USA) im Rahmen des Forschungskolloquiums einen Vortrag zu dem Thema "What is facial “Afrocentricity”? A computational-model based analysis of Black Prototypicality." halten.

Abstract: Afrocentric (Black prototypical) faces are targeted with troubling consequences, including inequities in domains such as health and the criminal justice system (Hagiwara et al., 2013; Eberhardt et al., 2006). These outcomes have been observed even when the targets are White (Blair et al., 2002; King & Johnson, 2016). Yet, it is unclear whether “Afrocentricity” is the same construct in judgments of Black and White faces. In essence, do people use the same features to infer Afrocentricity in Black and White faces?

Across two studies, we compared computational models of Afrocentricity generated from participant ratings of synthetic Black, White, and Black-White morphed faces created using FaceGen software (see Oh, Todorov work). In Study 1 (N = 592; archival data from Hutchings et al., 2024), participants rated White faces and Black-White morphs on perceived Afrocentricity. In Study 2 (N = 390; new data), participants rated Black and White faces on their perceived Afrocentricity.

Results indicate that participants show only moderate overlap in the features they use to infer Afrocentricity in Black and White faces, as reflected by stronger correlations between models of the same category (e.g., between two Black models of Afrocentricity) than models of different categories (e.g., between a Black and a White model of
Afrocentricity). Further analyses showed these differences were driven both by quantitative differences in feature weights and use of qualitatively different features in suggested qualitative differences in the facial features people rely on when assessing the Afrocentricity of Black versus White faces.

Downstream consequences and implications will be discussed. Examining Afrocentricity representations in both Black and non-Black faces helps us make sense of what we are studying when we study “Afrocentricity”.