Developmental Psychology 1987, Vol. 23, No. 3, 363-369 Copyright 1987 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. OOI2-I649/87/S0O.75 Infant Preferences for Attractive Faces: Rudiments of a Stereotype? Judith H. Langlois, Lori A. Roggman, Rita J. Casey, Jean M. Ritter, Loretta A. Rieser-Danner, and Vivian Y. Jenkins University of Texas at Austin Two studies, one with 2- to 3-month-olds and one with 6- to 8-month-olds, were conducted to exam- ine infant preferences for attractive faces. A standard visual preference technique was used in which infants were shown pairs of color slides of the faces of adult women previously rated by other adults for attractiveness. The results showed that both the older and younger infants looked longer at attrac- tive faces when the faces were presented in contrasting pairs of attractiveness (attractive/unattrac- tive). When the faces were presented in pairs of similar levels of attractiveness (attractive/attractive vs. unattractive/unattractive) the older but not the younger infants looked longer at attractive faces. The results challenge the commonly held assumption that standards of attractiveness are learned through gradual exposure to the current cultural standard of beauty and are merely "in the eye of the beholder." The data on stereotypes and behavioral expectations associ- ated with facial attractiveness provide one of the most consis- tent, pervasive, and robustfindingsin social and social-develop- mental psychology. Both adults and children prefer attractive over unattractive individuals: They attribute positive qualities and abilities to attractive individuals and negative qualities and abilities to unattractive individuals, and they behave differently toward attractive and unattractive persons (see Berscheid & Walster, 1974; Langlois, 1986; or Langlois &Stephan, 1981, for reviews). Furthermore, adults and children use similar stan- dards in evaluating the attractiveness of others (Langlois, 1986; Langlois & Stephan, 1977; Maruyama & Miller, 1981; Sorell & Nowak, 1981). Even different racial groups show substantial agreement in their attractiveness judgments (e.g., Cunningham, 1986; Kieck, Richardson, & Ronald, 1974; Stephan & Langlois, 1984). The preference for attractive persons, therefore, extends beyond single racial or age groups. This preference for an attractive appearance in others affects the development of children both as perceivers of others and as the perceived. The effects of such preferences of others on children are direct: The treatment and responsiveness of others are influenced by the attractiveness of the child (e.g., Adams & Crane, 1980; Dion, 1974; Langlois & Casey, 1984). The effects on children as perceivers are less obvious but will also affect the social environment in important ways: Children's perception This work was supported by grants from the University of Texas Re- search Institute and the National Science Foundation (BNF-8513843) to Judith H. Langlois. An earlier version of these studies was presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Los Angeles, April 1986. We thank Martin S. Banks and Patrick J. Bennett for the use of their laboratory and equipment and Deborah J. Tharinger, R. H. Wbodson, and the reviewers of this article for their substantial and helpful com- ments. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Judith H. Langlois, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Aus- tin, Austin, Texas 78713-7789. of and preference for attractiveness in others will influence their selection of social interaction partners (e.g., Dion & Berscheid, 1974; Langlois & Stephan, 1977). These preferences, then, form a strategic component in children's active construction of their social world (e.g., Bell, 1979). A question of considerable importance in the attractiveness literature concerns the origins ofthese preferences for attractive individuals. From where do such preferences come and by what processes are they acquired? Surprisingly, few studies have been conducted to examine this question. The lack ofempirical work on the origins of attractiveness-based preferences seems largely the result of two factors. First, many researchers have assumed that the standards, preferences, and stereotypes associated with attractiveness were learned gradually by children during years of exposure to the media and socialization agents. Second, it has been assumed that those standards of attractiveness vary from one historical period to another, from one cohort of indi- viduals to another, and from one culture to another. Thus, since the inception of research on the social psychological implica- tions of facial appearance, the standards of attractiveness and the preferences shown for attractive over unattractive persons were thought to originate from the cultural transmission ofcon- temporary standards, definitions, and stereotypes. The attrac- tiveness preference was therefore assumed to require extensive cultural input in the early years of life, not becoming evident until between ages 3 and 5 (Berscheid & Walster, 1974; Dion, 1973; Dion & Berscheid, 1974; Langlois, 1986; Langlois & Ste- phan, 1981). A separate body of literature from that on attractiveness, however, suggests a different origin of preferences based on fa- cial attractiveness and suggests that even young infants might be able to discriminate and prefer some faces over others. The infant perception literature provides data to show that young infants perceive, discriminate, and prefer some visual stimuli over others. For example, infants look longer at stimuli that are more complex (Brennan, Ames, & Moore, 1966) and that have high-contrast contours, curves, and concentricity (Fantz, Fa- gan, & Miranda, 1975; McCall & Melson, 1970). Infants are 363