Adults with siblings like children’s faces more than those without

Abstract

Humans cross-culturally find infant faces both cute and highly likeable. Their so called “baby schema” features have clear adaptive value by likely serving as an innate releasing mechanism which elicits caretaking behaviors from adults. However, we do not know whether experience with young children during social development might act to further facilitate this. Here we investigated the potential impact of having siblings on adult likeability judgments of children’s faces. In this study, 73 adult males and females (40 with siblings and 33 without) were shown 148 different face pictures of young children (1 month to 6.5 years) and judged them for likeability. Results showed that both groups found faces of infants (<7 months) as equally likeable. However, for faces greater than 7 months of age, while the no-sibling group showed a reduced liking for faces with increasing age, the sibling group found faces of all ages as equally likeable. Further, for adults with siblings, the closer in age they were to their siblings, the stronger their likeability for young children’s faces. Our results are the first to show that having siblings can extend the influence of baby schema to children as well as infants.

Testing the functional basis of first impressions: Dimensions for children’s faces are not the same as for adults’ faces.

“…Nevertheless, our results align with the broader context of the importance of nurturing and caretaking behaviors towards children (e.g. Aradhye, Vonk, & Arida, 2015;Franklin & Volk, 2017;Kringelbach, Stark, Alexander, Bornstein, & Stein, 2016;Luo, Kendrick, Li, & Lee, 2015;Picci & Scherf, 2016 Stolier, Hehman, & Freeman, 2017;.…”

Too sweet to eat: Exploring the effects of cuteness on meat consumption

“…Moreover, empirical research has identified several inter-individual and biological differences in cuteness responses. First of all, adult participants who had siblings reported more cuteness in response to children's faces than those without siblings (Luo, Kendrick, Li, & Lee, 2015). Further research has pointed at sex differences in perceiving cuteness (Lobmaier, Sprengelmeyer, Wiffen, & Perrett, 2010;Sprengelmeyer et al, 2009).…”

Infants’ Characteristics and Skills: Dissolving the Nature/Nurture Dichotomy

“…Each manifested behavior has a history of development, an epi-Trends Psychol., Ribeirão Preto, 27, nº 1, p. 99-111 -March/2019 genetic process with a cascade of interactions with multiple levels of causation, from genes to environments (Spencer et al, 2009). More recently, Luo, Kendrick, Li, and Lee (2015) found that adults who have children are more attracted to children's photographs, particularly with children whose age is similar to theirs. All these fi ndings add an explanatory complexity taking into consideration the phylogenetic and ontogenetic history.…”