Asian infants show preference for own-race but not other-race female faces: the role of infant caregiving arrangements

Author(s)Liu, Shaoying
Author(s)Xiao, Naiqi G.
Author(s)Quinn, Paul C.
Author(s)Zhu, Dandan
Author(s)Ge, Liezhong
Author(s)Pascalis, Olivier
Author(s)Lee, Kang
UD AuthorQuinn, Paul C.en_US
Date Accessioned2015-12-01T15:35:00Z
Date Available2015-12-01T15:35:00Z
Copyright DateCopyright ©2015 Liu, Xiao, Quinn, Zhu, Ge, Pascalis and Lee.en_US
Publication Date2015-05-07
DescriptionPublisher's PDF.en_US
AbstractPrevious studies have reported that 3- to 4-month-olds show a visual preference for faces of the same gender as their primary caregiver (e.g., Quinn et al., 2002). In addition, this gender preference has been observed for own-race faces, but not for other-race faces (Quinn et al., 2008). However, most of the studies of face gender preference have focused on infants at 3–4 months. Development of gender preference in later infancy is still unclear. Moreover, all of these studies were conducted with Caucasian infants from Western countries. It is thus unknown whether a gender preference that is limited to own-race faces can be generalized to infants from other racial groups and different cultures with distinct caregiving practices. The current study investigated the face gender preferences of Asian infants presented with male versus female face pairs from Asian and Caucasian races at 3, 6, and 9 months and the role of caregiving arrangements in eliciting those preferences. The results showed an own-race female face preference in 3- and 6-month-olds, but not in 9-month-olds. Moreover, the downturn in the female face preference correlated with the cumulative male face experience obtained in caregiving practices. In contrast, no gender preference or correlation between gender preference and face experience was found for other-race Caucasian faces at any age. The data indicate that the face gender preference is not specifically rooted in Western cultural caregiving practices. In addition, the race dependency of the effect previously observed for Caucasian infants reared by Caucasian caregivers looking at Caucasian but not Asian faces extends to Asian infants reared by Asian caregivers looking at Asian but not Caucasian faces. The findings also provide additional support for an experiential basis for the gender preference, and in particular suggest that cumulative male face experience plays a role in inducing a downturn in the preference in older infants.en_US
DepartmentUniversity of Delaware. Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences.en_US
CitationLiu S, Xiao NG, Quinn PC, Zhu D, Ge L, Pascalis O and Lee K (2015) Asian infants show preference for own-race but not other-race female faces: the role of infant caregiving arrangements. Front. Psychol. 6:593. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00593en_US
DOI10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00593en_US
ISSN1664-1078en_US
URLhttp://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/17249
Languageen_USen_US
PublisherFrontiers Media S.A.en_US
dc.rightsCC-BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This document is protected by copyright and was first published by Frontier. All rights reserved. It is reproduced with permission.en_US
dc.sourceFrontiers in Psychologyen_US
dc.source.urihttp://journal.frontiersin.org/journal/psychologyen_US
TitleAsian infants show preference for own-race but not other-race female faces: the role of infant caregiving arrangementsen_US
TypeArticleen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Asian infants show preference for own-race but not other-race female faces_1447958602T1771.pdf
Size:
2.81 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
2.22 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description: