FULLARD, WILLIAM, and REILING, ANNE M. An Investigation of Lorenz's Babyness. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1076, 47, 1191-1193. Lorenz's concept of babyness as an innate releaser for infant caretaking behavior was investigated in relation to its developmental aspects. 20 males and 20 females at grade levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and adults were presented with pairs of slides depicting human adults, human infants, animal adults, and animal infants and asked for their preference. Results indicated that for females there was a striking change in preference from adults to infants occurring between grades 6 and 8. Males also showed a significant increase in infant preference, but it was not so dramatic and occurred at least 2 years later. There was no difference in preference for animal versus human slides.
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Fullard et al. (1976) studied this question.