Female and male responses to cuteness, age and emotion in infant faces

Lobmaier, Janek S.; Sprengelmeyer, Reiner; Wiffen, Ben; Perrett, David I.

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.05.004

« Previous Next »Evolution & Human Behavior
Volume 31, Issue 1 , Pages 16-21, January 2010

Female and male responses to cuteness, age and emotion in infant faces

Janek S. Lobmaier
- School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK
- Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3012 Bern, Switzerland
- Corresponding authors. Janek Lobmaier is to be contacted at Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Meusmattstrasse 45, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. David Perrett, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK. Tel.: +44 1334463044; fax: +44 13344633042.
- JL was funded by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant number PBZH1–114699).
Reiner Sprengelmeyer
- School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK
Ben Wiffen
- School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK
David I. Perrett
- School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK
- Corresponding authors. Janek Lobmaier is to be contacted at Institute of Psychology, University of Bern, Meusmattstrasse 45, 3012 Bern, Switzerland. David Perrett, School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9JP, Scotland, UK. Tel.: +44 1334463044; fax: +44 13344633042.

Received 30 August 2008; accepted 21 May 2009. published online 06 August 2009.

Abstract

Neonatal features in the newborn are thought to trigger parental care, the most fundamental prosocial behaviour. The underlying mechanisms that release parental care have not yet been resolved. Here we report sex differences in the ability to discriminate cues to cuteness despite equivalence in the capability to discriminate age and facial expression. These differences become apparent in a task where adults were asked to choose the cuter of two babies. While women could reliably choose the cuter infant, men had more difficulty in doing so. When showing the exact same face pairs but asking to choose the younger or the happier baby, there was no sex difference. These results suggest that the sex difference in the ability to discriminate cues to cuteness in infants underlies female-specific emotive responses. We argue that this reactivity expressed by women evolved to ensure that a female allocates her caretaking resources to her youngest offspring while it needs mothering care.

Keywords: Neonatal features, Infant cuteness, Parental care, Sex difference, Face perception