Infant Expressions in an Approach/Withdrawal Framework

Sullivan, Margaret Wolan

doi:10.1080/00221325.2014.964169

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 86 publications

(143 reference statements)

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“…Therefore, the effect of the babyface schema is an important manifestation of this resource allocation strategy. However, when interacting with an infant, an adult judges the infant's physical and mental states via his or her facial expression (Sullivan, 2014). As an important emotional cue, a clearly valenced infant facial expression with a strong emotional intensity could be recognised quickly, and this recognition would be accompanied by enhanced electrocortical responses, helping the adult correctly classify the specific expression type (Peltola et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

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). For example, a study observed that when evaluating infant faces, adults thought that happy or neutral infant faces were cuter than sad infant faces, and adults perceived a stronger self-reported willingness to adopt (Aradhye et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

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

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“…The infant detects facial information that eventually will enable recognition and discrimination of emotion (Walker-Andrews, 1997). Furthermore, for newborn babies and infants who are highly dependent on adult care, crying and facial expressions are the main means of communicating their physiological and emotional states and needs (Sullivan, 2014). Accordingly, humans of all ages should be able to read these signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Tromso Infant Faces Database (TIF): Development, Validation and Application to Assess Parenting Experience on Clarity and Intensity Ratings

et al. 2017

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Newborns and infants are highly depending on successfully communicating their needs; e.g., through crying and facial expressions. Although there is a growing interest in the mechanisms of and possible influences on the recognition of facial expressions in infants, heretofore there exists no validated database of emotional infant faces. In the present article we introduce a standardized and freely available face database containing Caucasian infant face images from 18 infants 4 to 12 months old. The development and validation of the Tromsø Infant Faces (TIF) database is presented in Study 1. Over 700 adults categorized the photographs by seven emotion categories (happy, sad, disgusted, angry, afraid, surprised, neutral) and rated intensity, clarity and their valance. In order to examine the relevance of TIF, we then present its first application in Study 2, investigating differences in emotion recognition across different stages of parenthood. We found a small gender effect in terms of women giving higher intensity and clarity ratings than men. Moreover, parents of young children rated the images as clearer than all the other groups, and parents rated “neutral” expressions as more clearly and more intense. Our results suggest that caretaking experience provides an implicit advantage in the processing of emotional expressions in infant faces, especially for the more difficult, ambiguous expressions.

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“…Approach behaviors reflect determination and autonomy-striving in response to thwarted action (C. Harmon-Jones et al, 2011; Lewis et al, 2015; Sullivan, 2014). Low levels of maternal anger in response to toddlers’ behavior may elicit greater child persistence through increased arousal or agitation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Approach‐related emotion, toddlers' persistence, and negative reactions to failure

Sullivan

Carmody

2018

Social Development

Self Cite

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Approach behavior, defined as differences in behavior to an incentive event and anger at its removal, was assessed during contingency learning in 87 5-month-olds was related to maternal ratings of mastery behaviors at two years. Mothers reported on infants' concurrent temperament, as well as the occurrence of anger and tantrums, and their own anger at 12 months. Approach behavior was expected to predict persistence with objects and persistent motor behavior, but not negative reactions to failure. Negative reactions to failure were expected to be mediated by a distress-prone temperament. The moderating effect of maternal anger on these relations was also explored using conditional process regression models. Controlling for soothability, early approach behavior predicted toddlers' persistence, especially gross motor persistence, moderated by maternal anger. With more maternal anger, approach behavior and toddler's persistence were more strongly related. Distress to limits, infant anger at 12 months, and maternal anger were significantly correlated, but only infant anger was related to negative reactions to failure. Prior to six months, goal-directed behavior is related to later behavioral persistence, but maternal responses to child anger are an important contributor to this relation and by 12 months, infant anger directly predicts mastery frustration at two years.

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Infant Expressions in an Approach/Withdrawal Framework

Cited by 11 publications

References 86 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

The Tromso Infant Faces Database (TIF): Development, Validation and Application to Assess Parenting Experience on Clarity and Intensity Ratings

Approach‐related emotion, toddlers' persistence, and negative reactions to failure

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