Baby Schema in Infant Faces Induces Cuteness Perception and Motivation for Caretaking in Adults

Abstract

Ethologist Konrad Lorenz proposed that baby schema (‘Kindchenschema’) is a set of infantile physical features such as the large head, round face and big eyes that is perceived as cute and motivates caretaking behavior in other individuals, with the evolutionary function of enhancing offspring survival. Previous work on this fundamental concept was restricted to schematic baby representations or correlative approaches. Here, we experimentally tested the effects of baby schema on the perception of cuteness and the motivation for caretaking using photographs of infant faces. Employing quantitative techniques, we parametrically manipulated the baby schema content to produce infant faces with high (e.g. round face and high forehead), and low (e. g. narrow face and low forehead) baby schema features that retained all the characteristics of a photographic portrait. Undergraduate students (n = 122) rated these infants’ cuteness and their motivation to take care of them. The high baby schema infants were rated as more cute and elicited stronger motivation for caretaking than the unmanipulated and the low baby schema infants. This is the first experimental proof of the baby schema effects in actual infant faces. Our findings indicate that the baby schema response is a critical function of human social cognition that may be the basis of caregiving and have implications for infant–caretaker interactions.

The reward value of infant facial cuteness tracks within-subject changes in women's salivary testosterone

“…The differences between these results and those of our study could reflect our use of a larger sample of women (N=60 versus N=11), our focus on measured hormone levels (rather than cycle phase), or both of these factors. (Alley, 1983b;Glocker et al, 2008). Our results suggest that the reward value of both high-cuteness and low-cuteness versions of infant faces is increased when testosterone level is high, consistent with the proposal that increases in testosterone level may increase women's motivation to engage in protective behaviors (van Anders et al, 2011).…”

“…Consistent with this proposal, exaggerating baby schema in images of infant faces increases the perceived cuteness of infants (Alley, 1981(Alley, , 1983aGlocker et al, 2008;Little, 2012). Moreover, adults typically report being more likely to care for, protect, and form close bonds with infants displaying facial cues that are perceived to be cute (Alley, 1981(Alley, , 1983bGlocker et al, 2008;Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald, 1978). Similar patterns of results have also been observed in studies of both the actual care provided for infants (Badr-Zahr & Abdallah, 2001) and the strength of mother-infant bonds (Hildebrandt & Fitzgerald, 1983;Langlois et al, 1995).…”

“…Given the large and rapidly growing body of research demonstrating links between hormone levels and women's responses to adult faces, together with the importance of facial cues for motivating care and protection of infants (Alley, 1983b;Glocker et al, 2008) and links between sex hormones and parental behaviors (Rilling, 2013), it is perhaps surprising that relatively little work has investigated whether women's hormone levels also predict their responses to infant facial cuteness. The current study sought to address this issue, focusing on the possibility that within-subject changes in women's hormone levels may predict the reward value of infant facial cuteness.…”

Baby schema modulates the brain reward system in nulliparous women

“…In a species whose young depend on care, such bias could be evolutionary adaptive and enhance offspring survival (3)(4)(5). The behavioral effects of the baby schema have been experimentally confirmed (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), with implications for infant-caretaker interactions (15,16). In ethological terms, baby schema is classified as a ''releaser'' (or ''key stimulus'' in the context of social communication), which is defined as a set of specific stimulus features sufficient to selectively elicit a particular pattern of behavior (2,17).…”

Seeing overweight adults as babies: Physical cues and implications for stigmatization

“…Yet, these protective tendencies and the associated perception of babyishness normally are inconsistent with physical, behavioural, and situational features indicating that one is not dealing with babies or infants but mature individuals. While babyishness may cause a positive appraisal (cuteness; see Alley, 1983; Glocker et al ., 2009) and feeling (tenderness; see Dijker, 2014; Lishner, Batson, & Huss, 2011; Sherman & Haidt, 2011), it may be negatively evaluated in the light of traits that are required for adults such as responsibility for one's own health and motivation and capacity to contribute to society; resulting in perceptions of laziness and free riding. These negative evaluations may be especially likely in modern Western and individualistic societies where the negative health consequences of obesity are widely known and self‐control and personal responsibility are highly valued (Crandall et al ., 2001).…”