Are children’s faces really more appealing than those of adults? Testing the baby schema hypothesis beyond infancy

Abstract

The present study examined adults’ evaluations of likeability and attractiveness of children’s faces from infancy to early childhood. We tested whether Lorenz’s baby schema hypothesis (1943) is applicable not only to infant faces but also to faces of children at older ages. Adult participants were asked to evaluate children’s faces from early infancy through to 6 years of age in terms of their likeability and attractiveness, and these judgments were compared to those of adult faces. It was revealed that adults judged faces of younger children as more likeable and attractive than faces of older children, which were in turn judged as more likeable and attractive than adult faces. However, after about four and a half years of age, the baby schema no longer affected adults’ judgments of children’s facial likeability and attractiveness. These findings suggest that the baby schema not only affect adults’ judgments of infant faces but also young children’s faces. This influence beyond infancy is likely due to the fact that facial cranial growth is gradual during early childhood and certain crucial infantile facial cues remain readily available during this period. Future studies need to identify these specific cues to better understand why adults generally show positive responses to infantile faces and how such positive responses influence the establishment and maintenance of social relationships between young children and adults.

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

“…We found that the actual face age of children significantly and negatively predicted likeability judgments of participants without siblings ( t = −6.37, p < 0.001, R 2 = 0.22). The older the face age, the less likeable the participants judged the faces, confirming previous findings (Luo, et al, 2011). However, no significant face age effect was found for participants with siblings ( t = −1.75, p = 0.082, R 2 = 0.02) who failed to show a face age related decline in likeability judgments (Fig.…”

“…1). All faces had neutral emotional expressions, confirmed by an additional group of 36 adult raters (for details, see Luo, et al, 2011). …”

“…Lorenz first proposed the concept of Kindchenschema (or baby schema), a set of specific visual features common to babies which adults find attractive and elicit strong protective responses (Lorenz, 1943). These features include a large head, round face, big eyes, small nose and mouth, and high, prominent forehead, which act as an innate releasing mechanism to evoke positive emotional reactions and caretaking behaviors (Glocker, Langleben, Ruparel, Loughead, Gur, & Sachser, 2009; Lobmaier, Sprengelmeyer, Wiffen, & Perrett, 2010; Lorenz, 1943; Luo, Lee, & Li, 2011), and thereby aid a young child’s survival (Parsons, Young, Murray, Stein, & Kringelbach, 2010). …”

“…Recent evidence then suggests that this baby schema effect can extend beyond infant faces to those of children up to 4.5 years of age (Luo, et al, 2011). After 4.5 years, however, we treat faces of children similarly to those of adults, suggesting that by middle preschool years, baby schema features eliciting innate responses may have become less prominent due to facio-cranial growth (Luo, et al, 2011). In the present study, we also focused on the effects of baby schema as well as its extending to child faces.…”

Neural and behavioral responses to attractiveness in adult and infant faces

“…The link between baby schema and perceptions of cuteness extends to the age of about 4.5 years (Luo, Lee, & Li, 2011), which may reflect a decreased reliance on parental care with age. The link between cuteness, health, and caretaking motivation may serve an adaptive functionthat is, to optimize allocation of parental resources according to perceived offspring quality or viability as a sick infant simultaneously increases the cost of parental investment and decreases the chances of investment payoff.…”