Babies' face preferences, with Michelle Heron-Delaney. March 2013

The weird science of attraction. We hear about the work of three research teams who dared to pose curious questions, tested their hypotheses on peculiar populations, and discovered that unusual investigations can yield back to front results. Also, I interview Michelle Heron-Delaney of The University of Queensland about her recent work on whether babies can tell an attractive from an unattractive adult.

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Can babies tell an attractive from an unattractive face? Joanna Malinkowska/freestocks.org

The articles covered in the show:

Michniewicz, K. S., & Vandello, J. A. (in press). The attractive underdog: When disadvantage bolsters attractiveness. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary

Heron-Delaney, M., Quinn, P. C., Lee, K., Slater, A. M., & Pascalis, O. (2013). Nine-month-old infants prefer unattractive bodies over attractive bodies. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 115(1), 30-41. Read summary

Yonemura, K., Ono, F., & Watanabe, K. (2013). Back view of beauty: a bias in attractiveness judgment. Perception, 42(1), 95-102. Read summary