title: Nine-month-old infants prefer unattractive bodies over attractive bodies.
abstract: Infant responses to adult-defined unattractive male body shapes versus attractive male body shapes were assessed using visual preference and habituation procedures. Looking behavior indicated that 9-month-olds have a preference for unattractive male body shapes over attractive ones; however, this preference is demonstrated only when head information is obscured. In contrast, 6- and 3.5-month-olds did not show a preference for unattractive or attractive bodies. The 6-month-olds discriminated between the two categories, whereas the 3.5-month-olds did not. Because unattractive body shapes are more common than attractive/athletic body shapes in our everyday environment, a preference for unattractive body shapes at 9 months of age suggests that preferences for particular human body shapes reflect level of exposure and familiarity rather than culturally defined stereotypes of body attractiveness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK. michelle.delaney@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heron-Delaney
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Kang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Slater
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pascalis
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001504:Beauty; D049628:Body Size; D002755:Choice Behavior; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D018594:Human Body; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D002666:Psychology, Child; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult