ReviewProceedings. Biological sciences2024
Lorenz's classic 'baby schema': a useful biological concept?
Review in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Revisiting Infanticide in Non-Human Primates Reveals a Similar Likelihood of Male and Female Perpetrators.American journal of primatology · 2026Pooled it
- Heterospecific social behavior in primates: insights into the evolutionary roots of pet-keeping.Primates; journal of primatology · 2026Article
- The Influence of Cat Coat Colour, Eye Shape, and Pupil Size on Ratings of Adoptability Based on a Standardised Online Image, in an Australian Sample.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Article
- "My Little Son, My Everything": Comparative Caregiving and Emotional Bonds in Dog and Child Parenting.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Selective attraction to shorter muzzles in dogs is a hidden driver of the brachycephalic welfare crisis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Exploring dog and cat cohabitation within Japanese households.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Lorenz's classic 'baby schema': a useful biological concept?Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Konrad Lorenz introduced the concept of a 'baby schema', suggesting that infants have specific physical features, such as a relatively large head, large eyes and protruding cheeks, which function as an innate releaser to promote caretaking motivation from perceivers. Over the years, a large body of research has been conducted on the baby schema. However, there are two critical problems underpinning the current literature. First, the term 'baby schema' lacks consistency among researchers. Some researchers use the term baby schema to refer to infant stimuli (often faces) in comparison with adults (
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.