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It is commonly believed that race is perceived through another's facial features, such as skin color. In the present research, we demonstrate that cues to social status that often surround a face systematically change the perception of its race. Participants categorized the race of faces that varied along White–Black morph continua and that were presented with high-status or low-status attire. Low-status attire increased the likelihood of categorization as Black, whereas high-status attire increased the likelihood of categorization as White; and this influence grew stronger as race became more ambiguous (Experiment 1). When faces with high-status attire were categorized as Black or faces with low-status attire were categorized as White, participants' hand movements nevertheless revealed a simultaneous attraction to select the other race-category response (stereotypically tied to the status cue) before arriving at a final categorization. Further, this attraction effect grew as race became more ambiguous (Experiment 2). Computational simulations then demonstrated that these effects may be accounted for by a neurally plausible person categorization system, in which contextual cues come to trigger stereotypes that in turn influence race perception. Together, the findings show how stereotypes interact with physical cues to shape person categorization, and suggest that social and contextual factors guide the perception of race.

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We show that racial perceptions are fluid; how individuals perceive their own race and how they are perceived by others depends in part on their social position. Using longitudinal data from a representative sample of Americans, we find that individuals who are unemployed, incarcerated, or impoverished are more likely to be seen and identify as black and less likely to be seen and identify as white, regardless of how they were classified or identified previously. This is consistent with the view that race is not a fixed individual attribute, but rather a changeable marker of status.S ince at least the 19th century, the dominant understanding of race has been that racial divisions are rooted in biological differences between human populations (1). For the past 50 years or more, social scientists have challenged that notion, claiming that races are instead created through social processes and subject to economic and political calculation (2). However, even in disciplines where race is viewed as socially defined, most empirical studies continue to treat race as a fixed attribute of a particular individual (3). We examine two conceptions of racehow individuals are racially classified by others and how they identify themselves-and find that both change over time. Further, we show that this temporal variation is related to the individuals' social position: People who are unemployed, incarcerated, or impoverished are more likely to be classified and identify as black, and less likely to be classified and identify as white, regardless of how they were classified or identified previously. This study is the first to examine changes in racial classification using a representative longitudinal sample, and our findings suggest that race is not a fixed characteristic, but rather a flexible marker of social status.To examine changes over time in racial classification and self-identification, we analyze data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which contains multiple measures of interviewer-classified and self-identified race over a twenty-year period. In each survey year between 1979 and 1998, NLSY interviewers were instructed to record their assessment of whether respondents were ''White,'' ''Black,'' or ''Other'' at the end of the interview. Respondents also self-reported their race in 2 years: In 1979 they were asked for their 'origin or descent,' and in 2002 they were asked whether they were of Hispanic origin and the 'race or races' they considered themselves to be. ResultsWe begin by examining changes in racial classification, an often overlooked aspect of race that is nevertheless important because discrimination presumably rests on how people are perceived by others (4). Twenty percent of the 12,686 individuals in the sample experienced at least one change in how they were racially classified by interviewers over the 19-year period. This degree of fluidity is surprising because the United States is typically characterized as having uniquely rigid racial boundaries (5). Yet, the variation is clearly i...

This study leverages multiple measures of gender from a US national online survey (N = 1,508) to better assess how gender is related to self-rated health. In contrast to research linking feminine behaviors with good health and masculine behaviors with poor health, we find that masculinity is associated with better self-rated health for cisgender men, whereas femininity is associated with better self-rated health for cisgender women. The patterns are similar whether we consider self-identification or how people feel others perceive their gender, though reflected appraisals are most strongly associated with health for cisgender women. We also find that people who report they are seen as gender nonconforming report worse health, but only when this perception does not match their gender identification. Our results demonstrate that multiple measures of gender allow researchers to disentangle how health is not only shaped by gender enactments but also shapes perceptions of gender and gender difference.