Yale researchers Rebecca Dyer and Oriana Aragon use bubble wrap and photographs to explore mankind’s strange desire to crush or devour extremely cute animals.
_______
I read and listen to young adult fiction on a regular basis. Last week, while listening to Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, Eleanor admired the other main character, Park, by stating, “I want to eat his face.”
While watching a rerun of Modern Family, I observed Claire pick up her father’s dog, Stella, and say “I just want to eat you up.”
Why do fathers bite their baby’s toes? Why do men hug their pets so hard it comes dangerously close to an Of Mice and Men Lenny moment?
|
While playing around on You Tube, I came across the scene from Despicable Me in which Agnes discovers the fluffy unicorn at the fair and says, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!” and later violently shakes the unicorn, yelling, “It’s so fluffy!”
This got me wondering. Why have I said similar phrases in the past? Why have I clenched my fists so hard at a picture of a baby sloth in a blanket that I just wanted to reach through the computer screen and squeeze it? Why do fathers bite their baby’s toes? Why do men hug their pets so hard it comes dangerously close to an Of Mice and Men Lenny moment?
Rebecca Dyer and Oriana Aragon from Yale University wondered the same things, so in 2013 they conducted an experiment involving cute photographs and bubble wrap. Photographs of animals and babies were ranked in advance on “cuteness.” Then, research participants were given a piece of bubble wrap and told they could pop as few or as many bubbles as they’d like. Participants viewed a slide show containing the previously ranked animal and baby photos.
Consistently, participants popped more bubbles when viewing “cute” pictures than when viewing “neutral” images. It modeled what Dyer and Oriana title “cute aggression.” Check out the replicated experiment, conducted by Soul Pancake, in the video below.
Cute aggression might express our desire to nurture and protect innocent looking creatures. As the video suggests, humans may subconsciously use an aggressive response to counteract uncontrollable happiness. The subconscious aggressive response may also explain crying when deeply happy. It also may explain why a gnawing on a baby’s chubby digits seems briefly like a good idea.
Of course, this behavior can be taken to extremes, as Key and Peele satirize.
Grab some bubble wrap and try the experiment for yourself!
____
Image credit: natedrawssomestuff/flickr