The Power of Cute
I have to
admit that I’m a stereotypical teenage girl when it comes to cute things. I talk in a “baby voice” to fluffy little
puppies, and I melt every time a baby smiles.
The factor of cuteness is unique because unlike attractiveness (some
people like black hair, some people like brown hair, etc.) something that is considered cute by one
person is generally considered cute by a vast majority of the population. I wanted to investigate a little more on
cuteness. Is being cute maybe something
that animals and babies have developed through evolution in order to help them
survive during their early years, when they are at their most vulnerable
state?
Many
scientists are intrigued by cuteness as well, and have decided to do some
research. An experiment was conducted in
which people were asked to look at cute and not-cute images, and complete a
task involving fine motor skills. After
looking at the cute image, people tended to perform better, showing that
cuteness causes more focus in humans.
But why does cuteness cause such a large reaction in humans? Cuteness is a characteristic known to
scientists as pedomorphism. Humans tend
to think of young things, or things with the characteristics of being young, as
cute. This is because as organisms, our
genes have been programmed with the instinct of survival. We will do what it takes to continue the race
and ensure that we do not die out.
Babies are
loud and smelly and take a lot of work, so why would we want to take care of
them? The answer to this is cuteness. Because of their pedomorphism, babies have
large eyes, large heads, and small noses, traits which almost every human finds
cute. Our genes and survival instinct
cause a sense of protectiveness to invoke in us at the sight of this cuteness,
which is why we feel so motivated to protect the young. This reaction to pedomorphism extends beyond
humans, and can be seen when observing other animals with large eyes, heads,
and small noses. For example, puppies
and kittens are considered to be extremely adorable by most of society. These traits for cuteness have not gone
unnoticed by artists and animators.
It is quite
common to see cartoon characters that have extremely large eyes, heads, and small (or sometimes, none at all). An example of this is during Shrek, when Puss
in Boots uses his large, sad eyes to convince people to do things for him. I have experienced the effects of
pedomorphism first hand, because of my dog.
When he was a puppy, I was enamoured by his large puppy eyes and soft
ears. Though the instinct to protect creatures with
pedomorphism is strong, is it starting to wear off? As technology and society advances, people
are straying further and further away from what used to be thought of as traditional,
or normal. People who might have previously wanted a baby because
of their cuteness and their urge to protect and raise a child now might also
want to wait until later in their lives to start a family, so that they can
pursue a career or live their lives in a way they wouldn’t be able to while
taking care of a family. This trend is
starting to come out, but it is still growing very slowly, and it is likely to
be a while before it has an effect on society.
After
looking at how cuteness affect behavior, will we be able to use this information
to our advantage? Some companies are
already, by using cuteness as a factor in their advertisements and marketing
schemes to convince you to buy their products.
We could also use the results from the study that showed that cuteness
improved focus by employing cuteness while studying for tests or activities
that require a lot of attention.
Bibliography:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedomorphism
http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/babies.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/10/looking-at-photos-of-baby-animals-improves-productivity-study-finds.html
Aaaaaand just a few more pictures for fun :D
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