The explanation
Recognizing babies and responding to them with care has obvious adaptive value. The overgeneralization hypothesis holds that this response is so strongly prepared that it can spill over onto adults who merely resemble babies. Facial maturity is typically judged from cues such as eye size, forehead height, chin size, and roundness of the face.
Reported effects
Across studies, babyfaced adults are rated as more honest, warm, naive, and physically weaker than mature-faced adults of the same age and sex. Impressions tend to be consistent across perceivers, and some findings have appeared across cultures.
- Judgments about suitability for jobs involving care versus authority
- Assignment of blame for negligence as opposed to intentional wrongdoing
- Perceptions of political and leadership candidates
Accuracy and caution
Agreement among observers is not the same as accuracy. Studies generally find little correspondence between a babyish face and actual personality, and some work suggests babyfaced individuals may behave in ways that counter the stereotype. Many laboratory studies use posed photographs of strangers, so the effects may shrink when more information about a person is available. Facial maturity overlaps with attractiveness, age, and sex, which makes these influences hard to isolate. Real-world applications such as legal outcomes depend on many additional factors.
Further reading
- Berry, D. S., & McArthur, L. Z. (1986). Perceiving character in faces: The impact of age-related craniofacial changes on social perception. Psychological Bulletin, 100(1).
- Zebrowitz, L. A., & Montepare, J. M. (1992). Impressions of babyfaced individuals across the life span. Developmental Psychology, 28(6).
- Zebrowitz, L. A., & Montepare, J. M. (2008). Social psychological face perception: Why appearance matters. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(3).