This research program examines the origins, consequences, and significance of appearance-based stereotypes. One goal is to understand the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of the universal preferences shown by infants, children, and adults for attractive faces. Why do even young infants prefer to look at attractive rather than unattractive faces and when do stereotypical expectations become attached to these visual preferences? By what processes do infants come to associate attractiveness with positive attributes and to associate unattractiveness with negative attributes? Given infants as young as 12 months of age display differential treatment of attractive and unattractive individuals they may have some primitive knowledge of appearance-based stereotypes much earlier than previously assumed. A second goal of the research is to form a better understanding of the consequences of appearance- based stereotypes. How do children behave toward others based on appearance? Do non-prototypical faces elicit negative affect from perceivers and, if so, how might this lead to stigmatization? What are the social, physical, and mental health risks associated with appearance-based stereotypes? Because the intent of this research is to provide a full understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development of preferences, attitudes, and stereotypes based on facial appearance, a multi- method, converging evidence approach, beginning in infancy is required. This project includes standard behavioral measures widely used in the developmental literature including infant looking behavior with physiological measures (EEG, ERP, &EMG). Physiological data (e.g. EEG recorded brain activity) will be correlated with a behavioral response and/or a measure of attitudes. The ultimate goal of this research will be to ameliorate the negative consequences associated with appearance-based stereotypes.

Public Health Relevance

Rudimentary stereotypes are the result of three innate information-processing mechanisms: Cognitive averaging, categorization, and statistical learning. We propose a multi-component model of development in which infants bootstrap simple preferences and associations into complex beliefs and attitudes.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD021332-23
Application #
8212208
Study Section
Social Psychology, Personality and Interpersonal Processes Study Section (SPIP)
Program Officer
Maholmes, Valerie
Project Start
1986-09-01
Project End
2015-01-31
Budget Start
2012-02-01
Budget End
2013-01-31
Support Year
23
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$292,776
Indirect Cost
$93,576
Name
University of Texas Austin
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
170230239
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78712
Schein, Stevie S; Langlois, Judith H (2015) Unattractive infant faces elicit negative affect from adults. Infant Behav Dev 38:130-4
Trujillo, Logan T; Jankowitsch, Jessica M; Langlois, Judith H (2014) Beauty is in the ease of the beholding: a neurophysiological test of the averageness theory of facial attractiveness. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 14:1061-76
Rennels, Jennifer L; Langlois, Judith H (2014) Children's attractiveness, gender, and race biases: a comparison of their strength and generality. Child Dev 85:1401-18
Rosen, Lisa H; Principe, Connor P; Langlois, Judith H (2013) Feedback Seeking in Early Adolescence: Self-Enhancement or Self-Verification? J Early Adolesc 33:363-377
Principe, Connor P; Rosen, Lisa H; Taylor-Partridge, Teresa et al. (2013) Attractiveness Differences Between Twins Predicts Evaluations of Self and Co-Twin. Self Identity 12:186-200
Principe, Connor P; Langlois, Judith H (2013) Children and adults use attractiveness as a social cue in real people and avatars. J Exp Child Psychol 115:590-7
Principe, Connor P; Langlois, Judith H (2012) SHIFTING THE PROTOTYPE: EXPERIENCE WITH FACES INFLUENCES AFFECTIVE AND ATTRACTIVENESS PREFERENCES. Soc Cogn 30:109-120
Principe, Connor P; Langlois, Judith H (2011) Faces differing in attractiveness elicit corresponding affective responses. Cogn Emot 25:140-8
Griffin, Angela M; Langlois, Judith H (2006) Stereotype Directionality and Attractiveness Stereotyping: Is Beauty Good or is Ugly Bad? Soc Cogn 24:187-206
Hoss, Rebecca A; Ramsey, Jennifer L; Griffin, Angela M et al. (2005) The role of facial attractiveness and facial masculinity/femininity in sex classification of faces. Perception 34:1459-74

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