Exploring the morphological and emotional correlates of infant cuteness

Ethologists have observed that "baby schema" or infant cuteness is an adaptive protective mechanism ensuring the young's survival. Past efforts to quantify cuteness have been restricted to line measurement techniques. We developed a novel data-driven approach to quantify infant cuteness into a single metric. Using the Psychomorph program, we delineated facial elements of 72 infant pictures using 206 facial points and identified the facial …