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Do infants and adults prefer the same types of faces?
We've found that infants ranging from two to six months of age prefer to look longer at faces rated as attractive by adults than at faces rated as unattractive by adults. We've also found that 12-month-olds prefer to approach and play with a stranger with an attractive face compared with a stranger with an unattractive face.
To determine why infants have preferences for attractive faces so early in development, we tested the hypothesis that preferences for attractive faces may be due to the configurational resemblance between an attractive face and facial average, thus making attractive faces appear more familiar and "facelike." We therefore tested 6-month-olds' ability to form averages of female faces and found that infants could average across female faces to form an averaged face.
Related Publications:
- Langlois, J.H., Roggman, L.A., Casey, R.J., &
Ritter, J.M. (1987). Infant preferences for attractive faces:
Rudiments of a stereotype? Developmental Psychology,
23, 363-369.
- Langlois, J.H., Roggman, L.A., Rieser-Danner, L.A.
(1990). Infants' differential social responses to attractive and
unattractive faces. Developmental Psychology, 26, 153-159.
- Langlois, J.H., Ritter, J.M., Roggman, L.A., &
Vaughn, L.S. (1991). Facial diversity and infant preferences for
attractive faces. Developmental Psychology, 27, 79-84.
- Rubenstein, A.J., Langlois, J.H., & Kalakanis,
L. (1999). Infant preferences for attractive faces: A cognitive
explanation. Developmental Psychology, 35, 848-855.
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