Preference for Cute Infants Does Not Depend on Their Ethnicity or Species: Evidence from Hypothetical Adoption and Donation Paradigms

Results of previous work suggest a preference of adult observers for cute compared to less cute infants. In Study 1 we investigated whether the preference for cute infants depends on the ethnicity and species of the infant. We simultaneously presented two faces (one cute and one less cute) and asked Caucasian participants to choose the infant to whom they would rather give a toy (Task 1) and which infant they would rather adopt (Task 2). The infants were Caucasian or African human babies or dog puppies. For all face categories and in both tasks we found a strong preference for cute infants. A possible reason for preferring cute infants may be that cute infants look healthier than less cute infants. To investigate whether cuteness is associated with the assessment of health we conducted Study 2. Faces of Caucasian and African infants and dog puppies were rated for cuteness and health. The findings revealed a significant relationship between health and cuteness evaluation across all stimuli. We suggest that one reason why cute infants are preferred might be because they are perceived as being healthier.已有研究结果表明，成年观察者更偏好可爱的婴儿，而非外形不够可爱的婴儿。在研究1中，我们探讨了对可爱婴儿的偏好是否会因婴儿的种族与物种而异。实验中我们同时呈现两张面孔（一张为可爱婴儿面孔，另一张为外形不够可爱的婴儿面孔），并要求白人被试选择他们更愿意赠予玩具的婴儿（任务1），以及更愿意收养的婴儿（任务2）。实验所用面孔包括白人婴儿、非洲裔人类婴儿以及幼犬。在所有面孔类别与两项任务中，我们均发现被试对可爱婴儿存在显著偏好。偏好可爱婴儿的一个可能原因是，可爱的婴儿看起来比外形不够可爱的婴儿更健康。为探究可爱度与健康度评估之间是否存在关联，我们开展了研究2。我们让被试对白人婴儿、非洲裔婴儿以及幼犬的面孔进行可爱度与健康度评分。结果显示，在所有刺激材料中，健康度评分与可爱度评分均存在显著相关。据此我们提出，可爱婴儿更受偏好的原因之一，可能是人们认为它们更为健康。