Descriptions of a child's personality influence viewers' cuteness perception but not their approach–avoidance postural responses

Previous research has shown that personality descriptions influence the perceived cuteness of young children and female adults’ caregiving motivation toward them. The purpose of this study was to extend these findings by examining whether such effects also manifest in subjective and body postural responses of approach–avoidance tendencies. Thirty-seven female university students participated in a preregistered experiment. First, they stood on a force plate while viewing images of young children’s faces, during which postural responses were recorded. They also provided subjective ratings of cuteness and their approach–avoidance motivation. Each face was then paired with a personality description (positive, negative, or no description). After this manipulation, the participants viewed the same faces again, and their postural responses and subjective ratings were remeasured. The results showed that positive personality descriptions increased perceived cuteness and approach motivation, while negative descriptions decreased both. However, no significant changes were observed in postural responses across conditions. These findings suggest that while personality descriptions shape subjective experiences of cuteness and approach motivation, their effect is not strong enough to elicit changes in postural approach responses.