Why Do I Want To Bite Puppies and Kittens? - The Science Behind Cuteness Aggression
- Ji Sung Lee
- Mar 18, 2024
- 3 min read
Have you ever heard of someone saying (or have thought to yourself), “I just want to bite those toes off of that baby,” or “I just want to punch that kitten’s face?” Some might be concerned by listening to these devilish statements, but it’s nothing to worry about. They aren’t cannibals or psychopaths (hopefully); this is just a phenomenon among people called “cuteness aggression.”
What is Cuteness Aggression?
The term “cuteness aggression (cute aggression)” was first given by Yale researchers in 2015. This phenomenon is common; about half of us had experiences like this. Cuteness aggression gives rise to behaviors such as wanting to smush, bite, or pinch the face of something adorable without the urge to cause harm. Some languages have words defined, dedicated just for this emotion; for example, Tagalog’s word Gigil is defined as “the trembling or gritting of the teeth in response to a situation that overwhelms your self-control[;]… an irresistible urge to squeeze something cute.”
Katherine Stavropoulos, an assistant professor of special education at the University of California and a licensed clinical psychologist with a neuroscience background, conducted a study observing the brain’s responses to 4 sets of images to test cuteness aggression. The categories were cute babies, less cute babies, cute animals (baby animals), and less cute animals (adult animals). For cuter images, the animals had traits such as exaggerated dimples, enormous eyes, and scrunched noses, while others have been ‘decutified.’ Both electrophysiological data and questionnaires measured 1) how overwhelmed by positive emotions the subjects felt, 2) the approachability of the object viewed, 3) an appraisal of cuteness, and 4) feelings of caretaking experienced by the viewers.
Along that, aggressive responses were also noted, and participants were informed that any aggression would not be understood as the intent to cause harm to the cute creature. Since most cute aggressors feel worried about their negative impulses against witnessing these cute things, Stavropoulos debriefed this so that the responses recorded by the participants would be genuine.
The 54 participants aged 18-40 rated baby animals significantly higher than other images. During the experiment, when subjects felt more cute aggression while watching the cuter images, two areas of the brain lit up: the emotion and reward center. This means that cute aggression occurs not only from emotion but a combination of both pleasure from the reward center and feelings of cuteness from the emotion center.
Why Does This Happen?
Cuteness aggression is considered an ‘emergency brake’ for our emotions; when the feeling of cuteness skyrockets in our minds, it triggers our brains to release some more negative impulses in response to balance out the emotions. Those negative impulses are the ones that make us feel a sense of aggression towards these cute, little things. This theory of balancing out our emotions applies to many different reactions we make to certain situations. For instance, we cry when we laugh too hard; this is seen as the brain trying to release sadness when overwhelmed with happiness. Another common response to seeing something cute is reacting almost with sadness, pouting and frowning, and making a little “aww!” sound---it’s the same thing.
Some studies have also shown that this gets far more acute when people cannot physically touch the cute thing.
The Secret to Marketing
Therefore, we have concluded that human brains do this akin to a defense method. Why is this important? This phenomenon proves something more important than our urge to scroll through Instagram or TikTok, squealing while watching cat videos. This irresistible phenomenon can be used to manipulate us. By whom can use this as a great way to make you feel overwhelmed by something cute you can’t touch? Well, people who make television advertisements!
Cuteness is used in all kinds of marketing; why does a polar bear sell us coke? The effect grows exponentially when a tragic story is linked with a cute animal, just before flashing the company’s logo on the screen. Children also show a preference for cuteness, which has been exploited by toy makers, video game designers, and animators for great success.
So, next time, instead of being scared of your aggressive feelings toward a puppy drawn on a product that makes you want to cuddle it really hard, cuddle your money tight instead.
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