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Research by Freeman & Ambady, 2011a, found that when faces with neutral facial features or ambiguous facial features are placed in ethnically specific locations, individuals tend to associate the neutral facial features as belonging to the specific ethnicity of that particular location. A specific location might include a scene of the Great Wall of China with a neutral facial feature displayed across it or an image of the US Capital with neutral facial features flashed across the image. When a Chinese scene with a neutral facial feature is shown, the participant more quickly associate the neutral facial features as Asian and likewise, when an American scene appears, the participant more quickly categorize the neutral facial features as White. However, when a neutral facial picture is presented with a neutral scene, the results depend on the ethnicity of the person responding. This suggests that similarity and settings are directly related to an individual’s ability to recall and associate, playing a vital role in social categorization and stereotyping.

Association and categorization of multiracial facial features are also impacted by specific locations or context, however achieved in a slightly differing manner, according to Pauker and Ambady. Those categorizing individual's with multiracial features struggle with the ambiguity of their look, resulting in uncertainty and the need for further clarification from the multiracial individual. Those with multiracial features may, as a result, depend less on external cues and classification and more on their own individual concept of race and what it means.

Social categorization – the benefits and negative effects
Social categorization has its benefits as well as its obvious negatives. First, it’s important to understand that the categorization of individuals into different social groups is, for the most part, an unconscious and natural reaction. Research by Lee, Jussim, & McCauley, 1995, suggests that categorizing things, including people, is helpful because with the multifaceted, intricate world in which we live, individuals categorize things and people in order to better process and understand information around them. However, there’s also a danger with social categorization. For those that are categorized and stereotyped, it removes the person’s individuality, their unique traits, beliefs and mannerisms and for those doing the categorization, it misrepresents their view of the groups or individuals and results in all within the categorized group being treated the same way. This theory was tested through an experiment conducted by Tajfel & Wilkes, 1963. Tajfel & Wilkes study highlighted how lines of differing lengths, when grouped together are perceived to be the same length, but when categorized (by color change) the lines are perceived to be different lengths.