Perceptions of Attractiveness and Parental Dependency Mediate the Relationship Between Actual Parental Dependency and Human Caregiving Intentions for Non-mammalian Infants

Konrad Lorenz (Zietschrift fur Tierpsychologie, 5, 234–409, 1943) proposed that pedomorphic characteristics (Kindchenschema) in infants and parental caregiving responses to these characteristics co-evolved in species with parental care. Previous research on Kindchenschema has generally utilized human infants and computer-generated or manipulated images of human infants as stimuli. A recent study provided the first evidence that humans perceived non-mammalian infants requiring parental care as more attractive and more dependent on parents and expressed greater caregiving intentions for them compared to non-mammalian infants not requiring parental care (Kruger, Ethology, 121, 1–6, 2015; Kruger and Miller, Human Ethology Bulletin, 31, 15–24, 2016). The current study is the first to demonstrate that ratings of attractiveness and dependency mediated both the relationship of species parental dependency with caregiving intentions and the relationship between class (avian vs. reptilian) and caregiving intentions. Individual differences in perceptions of attractiveness and dependency also predicted caregiving intentions. Thus, we provide a new form of empirical evidence consistent with Lorenz’ (Zietschrift fur Tierpsychologie, 5, 234–409, 1943) proposal for the convergent co-evolution of Kindchenschema and caregiving reactions.