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Manipulation of Infantlike Traits Affects Perceived Cuteness of Infant

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Manipulation of Infantlike Traits Affects Perceived Cuteness of Infant Ethology Manipulation of Infant-Like Traits Affects Perceived Cuteness of Infant, Adult and Cat Faces Anthony C. Little School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK Correspondence Abstract Dr. Anthony C. Little, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, Physical traits that are characteristic of human infants are referred to as FK9 4LA, UK. baby-schema, and the notion that these affect perception of cuteness and E-mail: [email protected] elicit care giving from adults has a long history. In this study, infant- similarity was experimentally manipulated using the difference between Received: March 6, 2012 adult and infant faces. Human infant, human adult and cat faces were Initial acceptance: May 14, 2012 manipulated to look more (human) infant-like or adult-like. The results Final acceptance: May 25, 2012 from the current study demonstrate the impact of infant-similarity on (L. Fusani) human adults’ perception of cuteness across the three different types of face. The type of face had a large impact on perceived cuteness in line with doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2012.02068.x the expected infant-similarity of the images. Infants and cats were cutest while adults were less cute. The manipulations of infant-similarity, how- ever, had similar effects on the perception of cuteness across all three types of face. Faces manipulated to have infant-like traits were rated as cuter than their equivalents manipulated to have adult-like traits. These data demonstrate that baby-like traits have a powerful hold over human perceptions and that these effects are not simply limited to infant faces. likely to enhance their own offspring’s survival Introduction (Bowlby 1969; Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1989), and the elicita- Physical traits that are characteristic of human tion of care giving has an obvious advantage to infants are referred to as ‘baby-schema’ (e.g. Lorenz the infant. Indeed, Struhsaker (1971) noted in 1943), and there is a long history to the notion that non-human primates that the loss of infant-like such traits might influence the perception of cute- characteristics as offspring age often coincides with ness and elicit care giving from adults. Darwin the subsiding of parental and protective responses. (1872) noted that something about infants prompts Images of infants certainly have powerful effects adults to care for them and that this is likely adap- on our behaviour and perception. For example, tive. Lorenz (1943) proposed seven characteristics individuals often initially smile in reaction to infants that all human infants possess that elicit a particular (Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald 1978; Schleidt et al. set of behaviours from human adults (such as care 1980). There is also a general preference for infant giving). Three of the seven are related to infant facial over adult images (Berman et al. 1975; Fullard & appearance, with infants typically possessing pre- Reiling 1976), and both adults and teenagers show dominance of the brain capsule (a large forehead), preferences for infants of more baby-like appearance large and low lying eyes, and a bulging cheek region (Gardner & Wallach 1965; Fullard & Reiling 1976; (Lorenz 1943). Human infants are entirely depen- Ritter et al. 1991). Other research has further dent on adults, and it is important to their survival shown that observers do respond to infant-like cues that we recognise infants and that infantile charac- (Todd et al. 1980). For example, Alley (1981) has teristics promote nurturing, care giving responses shown that more infantile facial profiles and more and suppress aggressive responses. Individuals rec- infantile body builds were judged to be cuter, ognising and acting on cues to infanthood would be more cuddly, and more defence provoking than Ethology 118 (2012) 775–782 © 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH 775 Infant-Likeness and Cuteness Across Faces A. C. Little more mature stimuli. Sternglanz et al. (1977) found Adults have been found to rate images of children up that in schematic faces, increased eye and forehead to 4.5 yr of age as more likeable and attractive if they size and smaller chin sizes were perceived as cuter possess baby-like features (Luo et al. 2011). The than the more mature looking reverses. Hildebrandt effects of infant-like facial features have been found & Fitzgerald (1979) showed adults pictures of real to extend into adulthood, however. Adults with infants and found that cuteness was related to short infant-like face traits are perceived in line with what and narrow noses, short and wide ears, and a nar- might be expected of infants. There exists a ‘baby- row face below the eyes. face’ stereotype (Berry & McArthur 1986) by which While much research has been conducted on baby- adult individuals whose faces most resemble infants schema, many studies have employed only simplified are seen as warmer, less likely to exhibit antisocial line drawings and schematic faces (Hueckstedt 1965; behaviour, more submissive, naive and irresponsible Sternglanz et al. 1977; Todd et al. 1980; Alley 1981; than those with more mature faces (Zebrowitz & McKelvie 1993). Other studies have examined natural Montepare 1992). Beyond humans, the impact of variation amongst infants, for example, using photo- baby-like features on preferences is apparent in the graphs of infants and correlating facial feature size appearance of pets, cartoon characters or even our with cuteness ratings (Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald 1979). preference for products such as teddy bears. For While both approaches have their merits, both also example, it has been noted that Walt Disney’s Mickey have drawbacks. Schematic stimuli sacrifice ecological Mouse has become increasingly more baby-like (Gou- validity for experimental control whereas real varia- ld 1979) and that teddy bears have changed in tion is prone to the presence of uncontrolled artefacts appearance from a long-snouted long-limbed bear to that may vary across stimuli. One recent study has become more baby-like in appearance (Hinde & Bar- re-examined these issues using computer graphic den 1985). Hinde & Barden (1985) have suggested techniques to manipulate specific aspects of the baby- that the teddy bear has evolved in this way by means schema in colour photographs of infants using a of artificial selection because of customer preference: manipulation based on anthropometric measure- People prefer baby-like characteristics and the bear ments to ensure realistic levels of transform. Manipu- makers cater to the tastes of their customers. Pets are lating faces to possess high (round face, high another example of how baby-like appearance can forehead, large eyes, small nose and mouth) and low generally impact on human perceptions. Lorenz (narrow face, low forehead, small eyes, large nose and (1950/1971) noted that that some breeds of dogs mouth) baby-schema, Glocker et al. (2009) found (Canis familiaris) have retained infant-like features that the high baby-schema images were seen as more into adulthood and several authors have noted the cute and more likely to elicit care giving than low selection for neotenous features in many breeds of pet baby-schema images, providing the first experimental cats (Felis catus) and dogs (Tuan 1984; Serpell 1986). evidence for baby-schema eliciting such perceptions Like Mickey Mouse and teddy bears, artificial selec- in photo-realistic stimuli. tion based on human preference for baby-like traits While not explicitly testing the effects of baby- could have directly resulted in a change in appearance schema, recent work has also examined the percep- of these pets. tion of cuteness on responses to infant face images. One study has examined how infant-like traits Using computer manipulation to manipulate cuteness influence the perception of attractiveness in cat and based on high and low scoring infant faces, it has been dog images. Faces of both cats and dogs containing shown that young women are more sensitive to dif- infant features were rated as more attractive than the ferences in infant cuteness than men or older women, faces that did not (Archer & Monton 2011). This at a post-menopausal age (Sprengelmeyer et al. study, however, used a limited number of stimuli 2009). Women’s sensitivity to cuteness has been fur- (two high and two low for each type of pet), and these ther demonstrated in studies in which women are were selected by the authors, with one of the images able to discriminate cues to cuteness in infant faces being actively manipulated while others were left better than men despite women and men being unchanged. The images were measured after selection equally capable of discriminating age and facial and differed on one aspect of infant schema – the ratio expression (Lobmaier et al. 2010). of the forehead to the middle of the eyes to the middle Infant-like features hold sway over our perceptions of the eyes to the base of the chin – indicating that the in domains beyond just infants. For example, several images did indeed differ in infant-like appearance. studies have addressed the impact on baby-like facial However, subjective selection could have led the traits on the perception of older children and adults. selection of attractive vs. unattractive images by the 776 Ethology 118 (2012) 775–782 © 2012 Blackwell Verlag GmbH A. C. Little Infant-Likeness and Cuteness Across Faces authors. Furthermore, alongside the difference in Stimuli measured ratio, it is clear the images were unmatched in other ways such as pose, expression and colour Original images traits. Adult human images were eight photographs (four The question asked of judges is likely to be impor- women, four men) of white individuals (aged tant. Some studies address perceived cuteness while between 18 and 25 yr) without spectacles or obvious others address attractiveness, and often the two terms facial hair randomly selected from a larger database. are treated as if they are equivalent.
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