Abstract
The present investigation tests: (i) whether the perception of an human infant’s eyes, relative to other facial features, especially strongly elicits “parental” responses (e.g., appraisals of cuteness and vulnerability); (ii) if, so, whether effects of the visual perception of eyes may be partially attributable to eye contact; (iii) whether the perception of non-human animals’ (puppy dogs’) eyes also especially strongly influence appraisals of their cuteness and vulnerability; and (iv) whether individual differences in caregiving motives moderate effects. Results from 5 experiments (total N = 1458 parents and non-parents) provided empirical evidence to evaluate these hypotheses: Appraisals of human infants were influenced especially strongly by the visual perception of human infants’ eyes (compared to other facial features); these effects do not appear to be attributable to eye contact; the visual perception of eyes influenced appraisals of puppy dogs, but not exactly in the same way that it influenced appraisals of human infants; and there was no consistent evidence of moderation by individual differences in caregiving motives. These results make novel contributions to several psychological literatures, including literatures on the motivational psychology of parental care and on person perception.
Highlights
Human development includes a long infancy phase during which offspring cannot fend for themselves
Summary of primary results from Experiment 1. These results provide some evidence indicating that appraisals of human infants may be especially strongly influenced by perception of human infants’ eyes, compared to other prototypic babyish features
The effect on appraisals of cuteness was specific to ratings of human infants; there was no such effect with ratings of puppy dogs
Summary
Human development includes a long infancy phase during which offspring cannot fend for themselves. A set of psychological mechanisms—a parental care motivational system—evolved to facilitate caregiving responses to young children [1,2,3]. These mechanisms operate in non-parents as well as parents, and respond to the perception of features diagnostic of infancy [4,5]. To the extent that people (and non-human animals) are characterized by such babyish features, they are judged to be cuter, younger, and more vulnerable, and elicit more prototypically parental behavioral responses [7,8,9,10].
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