A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Infants are treated differently by adults based on their physical attractiveness. However, infants will also respond differently to others based on that individual's physical attractiveness. Mothers of attractive infants engage in more affectionate interaction and play more with their babies than do mothers of less attractive infants. In contrast, mothers of less attractive infants tend to engage in more routine caregiving and attend to people other than their infant more often than mothers of more attractive infants.
Infant attractiveness predicts maternal behaviors and attitudes.
Unfamiliar adults rate unattractive infants as older than they actually are. Adults also overestimate the developmental maturity and ability of unattractive infants. Adults' responses to infants varying in appearance of age and attractiveness. Facial diversity and infant preferences for attractive faces. Infants are more involved in play and show more positive affect toward an attractive stranger than an unattractive stranger.