Attenuating Racial Stereotypes Through Babyfacedness: A Replication and Extension of the Teddy-Bear Effect (2024)

Undergraduate: Andrew Jin

Faculty Advisor: Shimul Melwani
Department: Kenan Flagler Business School

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Facial features seemingly should not affect leadership assessments, yet research has consistently shown instant and robust judgments on physical appearance. Babyfacedness, a central attribute of facial inference, was originally found to be harmful for leaders. Through a survey of full-time employees in the United States (n = 269), non-White CEOs’ (Black, East Asian, and South Asian) increased babyfacedness was linked to higher leadership assessments mediated by warmth. This increased babyfacedness acted as a disarming mechanism by attenuating stereotypical perceptions of threat of non-White leaders. These findings stood despite non-White people being rated categorically less warm than White people in a separate survey of 50 participants. Collectively, these findings suggest non-White CEOs benefit from cues of warmth to compensate for racial stereotypes. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future directions, are offered in the discussion section.