Are newborns' faces less appealing?

Franklin, Prarthana; Volk, Anthony A.; Wong, Irisa

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.01.003

Cited by 16 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 89 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the effects of the babyface schema are diverse, three aspects of its typical responses can be summarised. First, adults have a stronger preference response for infant faces than for adult faces, which generates positive emotions and attitudes, represented as cuteness, willingness to care, and pleasure (Franklin et al, 2018; Jia, Cheng, et al, 2019). Furthermore, a greater number of the babyface schema–associated features elicit a stronger preference response (Glocker, Langleben, Ruparel, Loughead, Gur, & Sachser, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, in some studies investigating the effect of the babyface schema, neutral infant face images were mainly used as the experimental materials (Brosch et al, 2007; Cheng et al, 2015; Franklin et al, 2018; Glocker, Langleben, Ruparel, Loughead, Gur, & Sachser, 2009; Glocker, Langleben, Ruparel, Loughead, Valdez, et al, 2009; Hahn et al, 2013; Jia, Cheng, et al, 2019; Parsons et al, 2013; Parsons, Young, Kumari, et al, 2011), which greatly limited the external validity of such studies. In fact, when an adult interacts with an infant, the facial expression of the infant is an important cue for the adult to judge the infant’s physical and mental states (Sullivan, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Jia

Ding

Cheng

et al. 2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effect of the babyface schema includes three typical responses, namely, the preference response, viewing motivation, and attention bias towards infant faces. It has been theorised that these responses are primarily influenced by infants’ facial structures. However, recent studies have revealed the moderating role of facial expression, suggesting that the strongest effect of the babyface schema may be related to the neutral facial expression; this hypothesis remains to be tested. In this study, the moderating role of facial expression was assessed in three successive experiments (total N = 402). We used a series of images of the same face with multiple expression-standardised images of infants and adults to control for facial structure. The results indicated that the effect sizes of the babyface schema (i.e., response differences between infants and adults) were different for multiple expressions of the same face. Specifically, the effect sizes of neutral faces were significantly greater than those of happy and sad faces according to the preference response (experiment 1, N = 90), viewing motivation (experiment 2, N = 214), and attentional bias (experiment 3, N = 98). These results empirically confirm that neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest effect of the babyface schema under the condition of using adult faces as a comparison baseline and matching multiple expressions of the same face.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Jia

Ding

Cheng

et al. 2021

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…the “young babies”), and so newborns may gain less than older infants do from appealing to a wider range of potential caregivers. Studies have reported that infants are rated cuter at the age of three or 6 months, compared to both newborn (Franklin, Volk, & Wong, 2018) and to older babies (Sanefuji et al., 2007), although other work found that 9–11‐month‐olds were rated cuter than infants at younger or slightly older ages (excluding neonates) (Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald, 1979a). Our study was not designed to compare the cuteness of differently aged infants, and our results are perhaps a reminder of the importance of using a range of stimuli in research studies given that different stimuli can give rise to differing results (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been suggested that being able to distinguish cuter and less cute babies may provide the adaptive benefit of allowing people to direct their caretaking resources towards those infants who require lower levels of investment while having better chances of providing higher levels of returns, perhaps particularly when resources are scarce (DeBruine, Hahn, & Jones, 2016; Franklin et al., 2018; Hahn & Perrett, 2014). Consistent with this position, healthier‐looking infants are rated as cuter (Volk, Lukjanczuk, & Quinsey, 2005; Volk & Quinsey, 2002; Waller, Volk, & Quinsey, 2004), and cuter babies receive greater visual attention (Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald, 1978, 1981), and give rise to greater reports of caretaking motivation (Glocker et al., 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children aged 7–9 prefer cuteness in baby faces, and femininity in women's faces

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Infant facial features are typically perceived as "cute," provoking caretaking behaviours. Previous research has focused on adults' perceptions of baby cuteness, and examined how these perceptions are influenced by events of the adult reproductive lifespan, such as ovulation and menopause. However, globally, individuals of all ages, including pre-pubertal children, provide notable proportions of infant care. In this study, we recruited participants in and around northern England, and tested 330 adults and 65 children aged 7-9 using a forced-choice paradigm to assess preferences for infant facial cuteness in two stimulus sets and (as a control task) preferences for femininity in women's faces. We analysed the data with Hierarchical Bayesian Regression Models. The adults and children successfully identified infants who had been manipulated to appear cuter, although children's performance was poorer than adults' performance, and children reliably identified infant cuteness in only one of the two infant stimuli sets. Children chose the feminised over masculinised women's faces as more attractive, although again their performance was poorer than adults' performance. There was evidence for a female advantage in the tasks: girls performed better than boys when assessing the woman stimuli and one of the infant stimulus sets, and women performed better than men when assessing one of the infant stimulus sets. There was no evidence that cuteness judgements differed depending upon exposure to infants (children with siblings aged 0-2; adults with a baby caregiving role), or depending upon being just younger or older than the average age of menopause. Children and grandparents provide notable portions of infant caretaking globally, and cuteness perceptions could direct appropriate caregiving behaviour in these age groups, as well as in adults of reproductive age.

show abstract

“…Infants that did not elicit adequate care would not survive to pass on their genes. In addition, infant features are thought to reflect infant quality in terms of genetic variation, immune response and longevity [69]. Consequently, adults that failed to direct care to 'cuter' offspring would have fewer surviving offspring than those that responded to infant features with increased caregiving behaviour.…”

Section: Cuteness Forced-choice Task Scores and Attention To 'Cute' Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Individuals with Psychopathic Traits and Poor Attitudes towards Animals Can Recognise Infant Features But Give Them Reduced Attentional Priority

Cohen

McParland

Jack

et al. 2020

Animals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Simple Summary: Certain facial characteristics in companion animals are perceived by humans as being 'cute'. This includes having large eyes, a round head and a small nose and mouth. These characteristics, which are shared with human infants, trigger care-giving responses in humans. Despite this, however, companion animal abuse occurs. The aim of this research was to better understand cognitive processes of people with pro-social personality traits and positive attitudes towards animals compared to those with anti-social personality traits and negative attitudes towards animals. This was done by assessing participants' ability to detect cues of cuteness in animal and human infant faces (study 1) and by assessing attention to cuteness cues via an eye-tracking task (study 2). Findings indicate that the ability to detect cuteness cues is widespread, regardless of personality or attitudes. However, individuals with anti-social personality traits and negative attitudes towards animals chose to pay less attention to 'cute' stimuli in the eye-tracking task. This proof of concept study is an initial step in determining how individuals 'at risk' of committing animal abuse process information on infant features in animals.Abstract: Infant features are physical traits that are characteristic of human infants and include facial features such as large and low-lying eyes, and a small nose and mouth. Animals possessing high levels of infant features elicit care-giving responses in humans. Despite this, animal cruelty is a common occurrence. The aim of this research was to determine whether the ability to recognise and/or attend to infant features is linked to subclinical psychopathic traits and attitudes towards animals. Using a community sample, participants (n = 387) completed a cuteness forced-choice task. Self-reported psychopathy and attitude towards animals were not related to the participants' ability to detect cues of cuteness in human infants and animals. In a second study, participants (n = 142) were screened for low versus high primary psychopathy and low versus high animal attitude scores. A Psychopathy-Attitude Composite score was created and a subset of participants (n = 50) from the upper and lower quartiles completed a free-viewing eye-tracking task where 'Cute', 'Neutral, 'Monetary' and 'Control' images were presented in pairs. Higher levels of psychopathic traits and an anti-animal welfare attitude were associated with decreased attention to 'Cute' images in terms of decreased dwell time, mean fixation duration and mean fixation count, measures of voluntary attention. There were a number of interactions between Psychopathy-Attitude Composite classification and attention to each image category in terms of dwell time, first fixation duration, mean fixation duration and fixation count. These findings support the theory that individuals with psychopathic traits recognise facial cues of vulnerability but choose to give them reduced attentional priority. This may have implications for animal welfare.

show abstract

Are newborns' faces less appealing?

Cited by 16 publications

References 89 publications

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Adults’ responses to infant faces: Neutral infant facial expressions elicit the strongest baby schema effect

Children aged 7–9 prefer cuteness in baby faces, and femininity in women's faces

Individuals with Psychopathic Traits and Poor Attitudes towards Animals Can Recognise Infant Features But Give Them Reduced Attentional Priority

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About