J. Vukovic
Concurrent parent–child relationship quality is associated with an imprinting-like effect in children’s facial preferences
Vukovic, J.; Boothroyd, L.G.; Meins, E.; Burt, D.M.
Authors
Professor Lynda Boothroyd l.g.boothroyd@durham.ac.uk
Professor
E. Meins
Dr Michael Burt d.m.burt@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Abstract
Humans have been shown to display phenomena resembling sexual imprinting, whereby adults are attracted to features in potential mates which resemble their opposite sex parent. In humans this may be particularly so when the parent–child relationship is positive, but there are currently limited data elucidating the causes of these patterns. Here we investigate whether such preferences can be documented in children on the cusp of puberty, for whom prospective data exist on parent–child relationships. Sixty 9-year-olds and their parents were recruited from a British longitudinal sample who have been studied since infancy. Parents were photographed and children were then presented with stimuli in which a computer generated face was manipulated to appear more or less like the parent. Children also reported on their current relationship with each parent. Although attachment at 15 months did not predict imprinting at 9 years of age, children reporting a more accepting current relationship with their parents preferred parental features significantly more than those who reported a more rejecting relationship with their parents. These data support the suggestion that imprinting-like phenomena in humans may arise through associative learning.
Citation
Vukovic, J., Boothroyd, L., Meins, E., & Burt, D. (2015). Concurrent parent–child relationship quality is associated with an imprinting-like effect in children’s facial preferences. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(4), 331-336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.03.004
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Mar 2, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 13, 2015 |
Publication Date | Jul 1, 2015 |
Deposit Date | Mar 16, 2015 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 29, 2024 |
Journal | Evolution and Human Behavior |
Print ISSN | 1090-5138 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 36 |
Issue | 4 |
Pages | 331-336 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.03.004 |
Keywords | Imprinting, Facial attraction, Homogamy, Kin recognition, Attachment. |
Files
Accepted Journal Article
(344 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Published Journal Article
(422 Kb)
PDF
Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
You might also like
Emotion lateralization in a graduated emotional chimeric face task: An online study
(2022)
Journal Article
Hemispheric Asymmetries in Categorical Facial Expression Perception
(2018)
Journal Article
Television exposure predicts body size ideals in rural Nicaragua
(2016)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About Durham Research Online (DRO)
Administrator e-mail: dro.admin@durham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search