“Baby schema” refers to infant characteristics, such as facial cues, that\udpositively influence cuteness perceptions and trigger caregiving and protective\udbehaviors in adults. Current models of hormonal regulation of parenting\udbehaviors address how hormones may modulate protective behaviors and\udnurturance, but not how hormones may modulate responses to infant\udcuteness. To explore this issue, we investigated possible relationships\udbetween the reward value of infant facial cuteness and within-woman changes\udin testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone levels. Multilevel modeling of\udthese data showed that infant cuteness was more rewarding when women’s\udsalivary testosterone levels were high. Moreover, this within-woman effect of\udtestosterone was independent of the possible effects of estradiol and\udprogesterone and was not simply a consequence of changes in women’s\udcuteness perceptions. These results suggest that testosterone may modulate\uddifferential responses to infant facial cuteness, potentially revealing a new\udroute through which testosterone shapes selective allocation of parental\udresources.
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