  We present a group of 3740 previously identified RR Lyrae variables
well-observed with the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We explore
how the shape of the generic RR Lyrae mid-infrared light curve evolves in
period-space, comparing light curves in mid-infrared and optical bands. We find
that optical light curves exhibit high amplitudes and a large spectrum of light
curve shapes, while mid-infrared light curves have low amplitudes and uniform
light curve shapes. From the period-space analysis, we hope to improve the
classification methods of RR Lyrae variables and enable reliable discovery of
these pulsators in the WISE catalog and future mid-infrared surveys such as the
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We provide mid-infrared templates for
typical RR Lyrae stars and demonstrate how these templates can be applied to
improve estimates of mid-infrared RR Lyrae mean magnitude, which is used for
distance measurement. This method of template fitting is particularly
beneficial for improving observational efficiency. For example, using light
curves with observational noise of 0.05 mag, we obtain the same level of
accuracy in mean magnitude estimates for light curves randomly sampled at 12
data points with template fitting as with light curves randomly sampled at 20
data points with harmonic modelling.
