title: You must have been a beautiful baby: ratings of infant facial attractiveness fail to predict ratings of adult attractiveness.
abstract: Facial attractiveness has been studied extensively, but little research has examined the stability of facial attractiveness of individuals across different stages of development. We conducted a study examining the relationship between facial attractiveness in infants (age 24 months and under) and the same individuals as young adults (age 16-18 years) using infant and adult photographs from high school yearbooks. Contrary to expectations, independent raters' assessments of infant facial attractiveness did not correlate with adult facial attractiveness. These results are discussed in terms of the adaptive function of heightened attractiveness in infancy, which likely evolved to elicit and maintain parental care.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Program, Penn State Harrisburg, Middletown, PA 17057, USA. mah52@psu.edu
authors.forename: Marissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Jennifer C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Shortall
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dispenza
authors.forename: Gordon G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Gallup
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001504:Beauty; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires