Different facial features are diagnostic for different races. Europeans look at eye shape and color, hair color and texture, the lips and chin. East asians don't register eyes or hair, which don't change much from person to person. Instead, they look at the bridge of the nose, the cheeks, and the relative arrangement of features. Africans pay more attention to shapes, and to more shapes than other races do -- not just individual shapes of features like the eyebrows, the chin, the ears, nose, and nostrils, but also the outline of the face itself.

Let me reiterate that I’m generalizing wildly here.

And I’m basing this on what research I’ve been able to dig up identifying specifically what we’re all looking for — which isn’t nearly as voluminous as the research confirming that we seem to be looking at different things. If I’ve got any of this wrong, or if you have your own observations or sources, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Also, it’s not that we don’t share any of the same diagnostic features with each other — it’s just that we don’t share all of them. Which will become important for another reason on the next page.





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