Mixed individuals receive contradictory phenotypic similarity cues across their parental categories

Evidence

One way to determine similarity with a racial–ethnic category is to consider appearance-related features, such as skin tone, hair colour and structure and nose or eye shape (Mitchell et al. 2018; Nicolas et al. 2019; Stepanova and Strube 2009). However, many Mixed individuals lack highly prototypical appearancerelated features for a single racial–ethnic category (Chen et al. 2021; Norman and Chen 2020). Instead, they may either possess prototypical features for multiple racial–ethnic categories or possess no prototypical features for either of their parental racial–ethnic categories. In any situation where race or ethnicity is salient, Mixed individuals may thus perceive simultaneous cues for (dis)similarity for multiple groups. For instance, a Black/White Mixed individual’s hair may be of a colour or structure that is more similar to the Black than the White phenotypical prototype and thus be a cue for similarity with this category (Sims et al. 2020). But at the same time, their lighter skin tone may be a cue for phenotypical dissimilarity with the Black category and a cue for similarity with the White category. Thus, a straightforward assessment of the relative level of similarity based on observable characteristics to the parental racial–ethnic categories may be inconclusive. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 39

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reading purpose: the ambiguous/contradictory similarity input that Mixed individuals receive bears on how homogenizing ingroup-essentialism pressures would land on members who don’t fit a clean category prototype. — connects to: Perceived similarity to a racial category drives self-categorization among mixed-race people — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 37; Mixed identities involve ambiguously crossing mutually exclusive categories within a single social domain — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 15; Mixed individuals categorically shift toward whichever mono-racial prototype is absent — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 51 (+7 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies how prototypicality is operationalized through appearance features and why Mixed individuals often fail each single-category prototype.

Broader Connections

• Mixed individuals shift self-categorization across situations because similarity tests prove inconclusive. #expands (0.92) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 65
• Mixed-identity people shift self-categorizations situationally because prototype-similarity assessments stay inconclusive #expands (0.90) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 60
• Mixed identities involve ambiguously crossing mutually exclusive categories within a single social domain #expands (0.80) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 15
• Research gives conflicting results on whether appearance predicts Mixed individuals’ racial identification #exemplifies (0.80) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 39
• Mixed individuals categorically shift toward whichever mono-racial prototype is absent #expands (0.78) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 51
• White-partnered multiracials identify with their minority parent unless phenotype mismatches #exemplifies (0.75) — Tatiana I. Zamora and Amado M. Padilla, Making sense of conflicting messages of…, 120
• Mixed individuals’ self-categorization often conflicts with how others categorize them. #corroborates (0.75) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 16
• Mixed individuals’ self-similarity judgements draw on experiences and feelings, not just appearance. #qualifies (0.75)
• Social identity theories presume unambiguous single-category membership that mixed individuals lack #corroborates (0.75) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 16