title: Infant preferences for attractive faces: a cognitive explanation.
abstract: Research on infant face perception has shown that infants' preferences for attractive faces exist well before socialization from parents, peers, and the media can affect these preferences. Four studies assessed a cognitive explanation for the development of attractiveness preferences: cognitive averaging and infant preferences for mathematically averaged faces, or prototypes. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated that both adults and 6-month-old infants prefer prototypical, mathematically averaged faces. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that 6-month-olds can abstract the central tendency from a group of naturalistic faces. Taken together, the studies suggest that infants' preferences for attractive faces can be explained by general information-processing mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 78712, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Rubenstein
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kalakanis
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Langlois
mesh_terms: D002755:Choice Behavior; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male