The impact of attachment on preschool children’s preference for parentresembling faces – a possible link to sexual imprinting

Gyuris, Petra and Kocsor, Ferenc and Bereczkei, Tamás (2013) The impact of attachment on preschool children’s preference for parentresembling faces – a possible link to sexual imprinting. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 11 (4). pp. 171-183. ISSN 1789-2082

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Abstract

One possible form of how children use parental models in their social relations would be if children showed more willingness to make friends with peers resembling their parents. To test this possibility, composite faces created from 3 to 6 year old children's photos were transformed to resemble facial images of their parents. The children were asked to show which one of the two same-sex transforms they find more appealing: the familial or the control face. Children who lived in emotional proximity to their parents, and in particular to their mothers, were attracted more to father-resembling faces than to unfamiliar ones. These results suggest that childhood experiences influence face preferences. This bias may affect social decisions later in adulthood, and could help to explain preferences for parent-resembling mates.

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