| Title |
Body proportions as information for age and cuteness: Animals in illustrated children’s books
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, March 1990
|
| DOI | 10.3758/bf03207078 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
John B. Pittenger |
| Abstract |
Growth systematically changes the body proportions of both humans and animals so that the ratio of head height to body height decreases with age. Prior studies have demonstrated that body proportions provide effective information for age perception. To test the proposal that illustrators incorporate this information into their drawings, measurements were made of the head and body heights of 100 pairs of animals appearing in children's picture books. In 93 pairs, the animal intended to be perceived as older had a smaller head-to-body ratio than did the younger animal. Ratings collected for 25 of these pairs showed that both perceived age and cuteness are significantly correlated with body proportions. The magnitudes of the correlations were only modest, suggesting that other aspects of the drawings influenced perceived age and cuteness. In addition, observers reported that body proportions are only one of a variety of factors influencing age and cuteness perception. As has been found in other studies, perceived age and cuteness were negatively correlated. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 29 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 1 | 3% |
| Unknown | 28 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 24% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 10% |
| Student > Bachelor | 3 | 10% |
| Other | 2 | 7% |
| Professor | 2 | 7% |
| Other | 7 | 24% |
| Unknown | 5 | 17% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 9 | 31% |
| Computer Science | 3 | 10% |
| Environmental Science | 2 | 7% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 2 | 7% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 2 | 7% |
| Other | 7 | 24% |
| Unknown | 4 | 14% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 June 2023.
All research outputs
#8,535,684
of 25,374,917 outputs
Outputs from Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
#581
of 2,379 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,350
of 14,695 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics
#1
of 3 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,917 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,379 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.5. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 14,695 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 9th percentile – i.e., 9% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 3 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than all of them