Abstract
Infants universally elicit in adults a set of solicitous behaviors that are evolutionarily important for the survival of the species. However, exposure, experience, and prejudice appear to govern adults' social choice and ingroup attitudes towards other adults. In the current study, physiological arousal and behavioral judgments were assessed while adults processed unfamiliar infant and adult faces of ingroup vs. outgroup members in two contrasting cultures, Japan and Italy. Physiological arousal was investigated using the novel technique of infrared thermography and behavioral judgments using ratings. We uncovered a dissociation between physiological and behavioral responses. At the physiological level, both Japanese and Italian adults showed significant activation (increase of facial temperature) for both ingroup and outgroup infant faces. At the behavioral level, both Japanese and Italian adults showed significant preferences for ingroup adults. Arousal responses to infants appear to be mediated by the autonomic nervous system and are not dependent on direct caregiving exposure, but behavioral responses appear to be mediated by higher-order cognitive processing based on social acceptance and cultural exposure.
Highlights
The ethologist Konrad Lorenz [1,2] famously identified a set of physiognomic features in infants known as kindchenschema that effectively elicit affection and nurturance from adults
In Lorenz’s formulation, baby schema release a set of parental care behaviors in conspecifics and are evolutionarily vital for survival
Using fMRI, Caria et al [7] observed stronger activation in thalamocingulate, anterior insula, and the supplementary motor area and premotor cortex to unknown infant faces compared with carefully matched adult and nonhuman infant and adult faces
Summary
The ethologist Konrad Lorenz [1,2] famously identified a set of physiognomic features in infants known as kindchenschema that effectively elicit affection and nurturance from adults. Because previous theorizing and research have shown that people express universal preference for infant faces but ingroup preferences for adult faces, we hypothesized (H1) that both Japanese and Italian adults, belonging to contrasting cultures, would show similar patterns of results for both the physiological and behavioral responses to infant faces and (H2) both groups would dissociate physiological and behavioral responses; (H3) infant faces as opposed to adult faces would elicit greater physiological activation (measured as an increase in facial temperature) independent of the infant ethnicity (stimulus ethnicity); and (H4) participants from both cultures would show greater behavioral preference (measured as explicit assessment of willingness to interact) to ingroup adults (same ethnicity) vs outgroup adults. This technology has been used in different cultural groups (e.g., in the U.S.A. [26]; in Japan [25], 1990; in Italy [28]) as well as in different age groups (in infants [29]; in adults [30])
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