Cross-race recognition (CRR) was examined for White and Black faces with participants from four racial groups: Whites, Blacks, Latinos, and Asians. Before viewing the faces, participants were asked to complete a passage to induce either a pleasant or an unpleasant mood. Each participant viewed a set of intermixed Black and White faces under each mood condition. A strong CRR effect was observed between Black and White participants, such that participants from either racial group were more likely to recognize faces of their own race and more likely to have a false alarm to faces of the other race. Latinos and Asians also were less accurate in their recognition of Black faces than Black participants, but they were no less accurate in their recognition of White faces than White participants. Face recognition was more accurate when participants from any of the racial groups were induced to be in unpleasant moods versus pleasant moods. However, mood did not interact with the CRR effect, and thus mood is unlikely to be a mediating variable for the effect.
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