title: The influence of averageness on children's judgments of facial attractiveness.
abstract: We examined developmental changes in the influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness by showing adults and children pairs of individual faces in which one face was transformed 50% toward its group average, whereas the other face was transformed 50% away from that average. In one comparison, adults and 5-year-olds rated the more average faces as more attractive whether the faces were of adult females, 5-year-old boys, or 5-year-old girls. The influence of averageness, however, was weaker in 5-year-olds than in adults. In another comparison, a new group of adults and 9-year-olds rated the more average faces as more attractive for male and female faces of adults, 9-year-olds, and 5-year-olds. The influence of averageness was again weaker for children than for adults, although the strength of 9-year-olds' preference was greater than that of 5-year-olds. Developmental changes may reflect the refinement of an average face prototype as children are exposed to more faces, increased sensitivity as visual perception develops, and/or the greater salience of attractiveness after puberty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1.
authors.forename: Larissa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vingilis-Jaremko
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maurer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001504:Beauty; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005145:Face / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception; D055815:Young Adult