Head shape and the perception of cuteness.

Investigated in 3 experiments with 25 undergraduates the ethological hypothesis that the perception of cuteness can be elicited by certain physical characteristics of infants. A transformation that models the morphological changes in head shape during development was applied to 1 frontal and 2 profile drawings of human heads to create 3 series varying only in global cephalic shape. The responses of Ss to these drawings indicated that perceived cuteness decreases as the shape of the head changes due to aging. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)