Peer and Self Perceptions in Hopi and Afro‐American Third‐ and Sixth‐Graders

406

259

Two studies, one with 2-to 3-month-olds and one with 6-to 8-month-olds, were conducted to examine infant preferences for attractive faces. A standard visual preference technique was used in which infants were shown pairs of color slides of the faces of adult women previously rated by other adults for attractiveness. The results showed that both the older and younger infants looked longer at attractive faces when the faces were presented in contrasting pairs of attractiveness (attractive/unattractive). When the faces were presented in pairs of similar levels of attractiveness (attractive/attractive vs. unattractive/unattractive) the older but not the younger infants looked longer at attractive faces. The results challenge the commonly held assumption that standards of attractiveness are learned through gradual exposure to the current cultural standard of beauty and are merely "in the eye of the beholder." The data on stereotypes and behavioral expectations associated with facial attractiveness provide one of the most consistent, pervasive, and robust findings in social and social-developmental psychology. Both adults and children prefer attractive over unattractive individuals: They attribute positive qualities and abilities to attractive individuals and negative qualities and abilities to unattractive individuals, and they behave differently toward attractive and unattractive persons (see Berscheid &

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Infant preferences for attractive faces: Rudiments of a stereotype?

Langlois¹,

Roggman²,

Casey³

et al. 1987

406

259

“…Why are attractive faces special to infants and why do infants prefer them to less attractive faces? And why is it that, contrary to common assumption, recent cross-cultural investigations have demonstrated surprisingly high (e.g.,.66–.93) interrater reliabilities in judgments of attractiveness (Bernstein, Lin, & McClellan, 1982; Cunningham, 1986; Johnson, Dannenbring, Anderson, & Villa, 1983; Maret, 1983; Maret & Harling, 1985; McArthur & Berry, 1987; Richardson, Goodman, Hastorf, & Dornbusch, 1961; Thakerar & Iwawaki, 1979; Weisfeld, Weisfeld, & Callaghan, 1984)? For example, Cunningham (1986) assembled an international sample of photographs of female faces, had the faces rated for attractiveness, and measured various features of the faces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial diversity and infant preferences for attractive faces.

Langlois

Ritter²,

Roggman³

et al. 1991

288

142

Three studies examined infant preferences for attractive faces in four types of faces: White adult male and female faces, Black adult female faces, and infant faces. Infants viewed pairs of faces, previously rated for attractiveness by adults, in a visual preference paradigm. Significant preferences were found for attractive faces across all facial types. The results confirm earlier reports of this phenomenon and extend those results by showing that infant preferences for attractive faces generalize across faces differing in race, gender, and age. Two potential explanations for these observed infant preferences are discussed. We recently reported several studies showing that young infants visually discriminate among adult female faces based on the adult-judged attractiveness of the faces and that infants exhibit both visual and behavioral preferences for attractive compared with unattractive female faces (Langlois et al., 1987; Langlois, Roggman, & Rieser-Danner, 1990). These results were surprising to many people because infants were not expected to be able to make such subtle discriminations. In addition, most researchers interested in the effects of physical attractiveness have assumed that preferences for attractiveness are only gradually learned through a lengthy period of cultural transmission and through exposure to the standards of attractiveness extant in the contemporary media and society. However, these behaviors of young infants suggested that preferences for attractiveness in faces are present much earlier than has been assumed. Other researchers have also found that infants look longer at and seem to prefer attractive compared with unattractive female faces. Samuels and Ewy (1985) and Shapiro, Hazan, and Haith (1984) showed both adult male and adult female faces that were rated as high or low in attractiveness by adult judges to infants ranging from 3 to 6 months of age. The infants in these studies looked significantly longer at both the male and the female attractive faces compared with unattractive faces. Although some methodological limitations of these two studies prevent a clear-cut interpretation of their results, they at least suggest that infants can discriminate attractiveness in two different types of faces, male and female. Given the challenge that these findings from infants pose to the widely accepted assumptions about the origins of preferences for attractiveness (Langlois et al., 1987), it is important to investigate the generality of these preferences across different

“…What information do attractive and unattractive faces differentially communicate to young infants, children, and adults alike? Why are cross-cultural judgments of attractiveness more similar than different, despite common assumptions to the contrary (e.g., Bernstein, Lin, & McClellan, 1982;Cunningham, 1986, Johnson, Dannenbring, Anderson, & Villa, 1983Kleck et al, 1974;Langlois & Stephan, 1977;Maret, 1983;Richardson, Goodman, Hastorf, & Dornbusch, 1961;Stephan & Langlois, 1984;Weisfeld, Weisfeld, & Callaghan, 1984)? Why is facial attractiveness an influence on human visual behavior as early as 3 months of age and on social behavior as early as 12 months of age?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infants' differential social responses to attractive and unattractive faces.

Langlois

Roggman²,

Rieser-Danner³

1990

152

Two studies were conducted to examine infants' social responses to attractive and unattractive faces. In Study I, 60 12-month-olds interacted with a stranger who wore a professionally constructed attractive or unattractive mask. The infants showed more positive affective tone, less withdrawal, and more play involvement with the stranger in the attractive condition. In Study 2, 43 12-montholds played with an attractive and an unattractive doll. The infants played significantly longer with the attractive doll. These results extend and amplify earlier findings showing that young infants exhibit visual preferences for attractive over unattractive faces. Both visual and behavioral preferences for attractiveness are evidently exhibited much earlier in life than was previously supposed. Recently, we reported data demonstrating that young infants both discriminate among faces on the basis of adult-judged physical attractiveness and exhibit visual preferences for attractive, compared with unattractive, female faces (Langlois et al., 1987). These results, which have been found by others as well (Samuels & Ewy, 1985; Shapiro, Eppler, Haith, & Reis, 1987), were surprising and important because most researchers in this area have assumed that standards of attractiveness were learned gradually through cultural transmission and were not evident until 3 or 4 years of age (e.g.,