Abstract
We investigated the cultural differences in understanding and reacting to the babyface in an effort to identify both cultural and gender biases in the universal hypothesis that the babyfaced individuals are perceived as naïve, cute, innocent, and more trustworthy. Sixty-six Chinese and Sixty-six American participants were required to evaluate Chinese faces selected from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)—Pose, Expression, Accessories, and Lighting (PEAL) Large-Scale Chinese Face Database. In our study, we applied Active Shape Models, a modern technique of machine learning to measure facial features. We found some cultural similarities and also found that a Chinese babyface has bigger eyes, higher eyebrows, a smaller chin, and greater WHR (Facial width-to-height ratio), and looks more attractive and warmer. New findings demonstrate that Chinese babyfaces have a lower forehead and closer pupil distance (PD). We found that when evaluating the babyfacedness of a face, Chinese are more concerned with the combination of all facial features and American are more sensitive to specific highlighted babyfaced features. The Chinese babyface tended to be perceived as more babyfaced for American participants, but not less competent for Chinese participants.
Highlights
You can never tell a book by its cover, but we always automatically and unconsciously judge people by their faces
With the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, we found that the grades of babyfacedness given by Chinese and American participants showed no systematic difference
Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) techniques were used to investigate the effect of facial structures and culture on the perception of babyfacedness
Summary
You can never tell a book by its cover, but we always automatically and unconsciously judge people by their faces. Whether in humans or animals, the babyface is usually defined as a round face with big eyes, high raised eyebrows, a narrow chin, and a small nose. All these features give us the impression of child-like traits, such as being naïve, cute, innocent, etc. The babyface overgeneralization effect applies to both infants and adults, including youth and seniors (Zebrowitz and Franklin, 2014; Zebrowitz et al, 2015). Babyface stereotypes can bias social life outcomes, including elections, financial rewards, job applications, academic performances, prison sentences, altruism, and communication environments (Zebrowitz and McDonald, 1991; Zebrowitz et al, 1992, 1998; Collins and Zebrowitz, 1995; Zebrowitz and Montepare, 2008; Livingston and Pearce, 2009; Poutvaara et al, 2009)
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