PERCEIVED CUTENESS, ACTIVITY LEVEL, AND GENDER IN SCHEMATIC BABYFACES

This paper investigated the relationship between features and perceive d cuteness and examined whether attributions of arousal and gender ref lect attractiveness stereotypes. Three hundred ninety-six subjects in eight conditions judged four schematic babyfaces varying in feature pl acement and eye size. Classifications and rankings indicated that low placement and large eyes contributed equally to the perception of cute ness, and combined to give the strongest effect. Judgments of arousal were generally consistent with the ''beautiful is good'' stereotype fo r the faces that were most and least cute. They also showed that low a rousal was attributed to the face with low placement and small eyes. P erceived gender was related to cuteness, indicating a ''cute is female '' stereotype. Suggestions for future research are given.