Why Do We Squeeze Cute Things? Do you Relate?

Cute things, like animals and babies, help us channel our aggressive side. Cute aggression suggests that we tend to have pent-up aggression over cute things because they trigger our desire to protect them (Ferro, 2013). However, when we’re only seeing photos of the cute creatures, we’re left empty-handed when we can’t reach in and hold them - that’s where the frustration kicks in! Did you know that cute things have powerful benefits to the human mind? Participants were asked to look at certain photos and then complete a concentration task (Nosowitz, 2012). The pictures that were shown to them were either cute animals, or delicious foods. When participants saw cute animals, their performance on the concentration task increased by 44%! We suggest that the next time you want to ace a test, look up some adorable puppies prior to studying using the Pomodoro technique.

Do you ever feel like squeezing things you find adorable?


References:
Ferro, S. (2013, January 24). Why Do We Want To Squeeze Cute Things? Popular Science. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

Martinez-Conde, S. (2014, December 5). Seeing Cuteness Improves Our Performance, Study Finds. Scientific American. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

Nosowitz, D. (2012, October 1). Experiment: Look At Pictures Of Cute Baby Animals To Improve Your Concentration. Popular Science. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

SciShowPsych (Producer). (2017, June 12). Why Do You Want to Squeeze Cute Things? [Video file]. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

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