Voices as Cues to Children’s Needs for Caregiving

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the role of voices as cues to adults of children’s needs for potential caregiving during early childhood. To this purpose, 74 college students listened to pairs of 5-year-old versus 10-year-old children verbalizing neutral-content sentences and indicated which voice was better associated with each of 14 traits, potentially meaningful in interactions between young children and adults. Results indicated that children with immature voices were perceived more positively and as being more helpless than children with mature voices. Children’s voices, regardless of the content of speech, seem to be a powerful source of information about children’s need for caregiving for parents and others during the first six years of life.

Kindchenschema and cuteness elicit interest in caring for and playing with young children, but less so when children are masked

“…In light of these ideas, one might expect cuteness to play an important role in guiding adults’ engagement with children. Adults rate younger children as more attractive and likable than older ones 16 , and they attribute more positive affect and helplessness to less mature child faces and voices 17 , 18 . However, downstream influences of kindchenschema and cuteness in children on interest and engagement with them have not been investigated.…”