Early Emergence of Spontaneous Trait Content in Children's Unconstrained Impressions of Faces

We investigated children's spontaneous impressions of faces; a question critical for understanding the developmental trajectory of facial stereotypes. Adults and children aged 4 to 10 from the UK (children: n = 59, adults: n = 61) and the US (children: n = 189, adults: n = 180) described what they thought when viewing each of the four child's faces. Natural language processing was used to classify free-response descriptors into categories related to traits, emotions, social groups, and appearance. This approach captured over 90% of children's and adults' impressions. The vocabulary and the prevalence of descriptors related to each of the four categories were comparable across two samples that differed in participant and face diversity. Across childhood, trait descriptors increased, with 14 impressions emerging as the top trait words used across both samples. Notably, children as young as four spontaneously formed trait impressions, suggesting an early emergence of facial stereotyping. SUMMARY: Children and adults spontaneously mention personality traits when viewing unfamiliar child faces. Children as young as four mentioned personality traits, and the frequency of trait references increased across childhood. The results converged across two samples that differed in terms of participant and face diversity and the use of real versus AI-generated faces. These findings demonstrate the relevance of trait impressions in early childhood and underscore the importance of increasing diversity in face perception research.