For part two the researchers brought 90 participants into the lab, provided them with bubble wrap and showed them pictures of cute, funny or neutral animals.
I feel bad for the poor "neutral" animals signing the photo-releases, realizing just how "neutral" they are. Some poor sad-sack duck wearing an old scally cap. Hey, duck. Don't worry. I think you're pretty. You're pretty in your own special way. I'd pop some bubbles for you, little neutral duck. posted by Greg Nog at 11:57 AM on February 1 [7 favorites]
We'd be remiss if we failed to note that a small research team out of NYU did groundbreaking work on this topic 20 years ago. (Autoplay video link. The relevant segment follows the opening disclaimer). #emergencybear posted by rmxwl at 12:22 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
What are all these pictures of domesticated animals doing on the internet? posted by obscurator at 12:43 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
HEADLINE: WHY WE WANT TO SQUEEZE CUTE THINGS
Story: Research suggests we want to squeeze them. Scientists don't know why tho'. posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:45 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]
Are we really talking about this without linking to this Key & Peele sketch ?
This was my first thought as well. posted by shakespeherian at 1:34 PM on February 1
This behavior evolved many thousands of years ago, when early humans first discovered cuteness. This extremely limited resource had to be protected, usually by biting or squeezing an adversary, so that they could not get their filthy hands all over the precious little snuggler. In extreme cases, the threat could be so great that it would warrant smooshing the entire cutie patootie into the mouth for safe keeping. posted by orme at 1:47 PM on February 1
This is awesome. I have always wondered what the scientific and slash or psychological reasoning is for the tendancy of people to want to kill things to death when they find them so cute..
Though the title made me think it'd be an Animaniacs post. No threadjack intended, but titles are having to make an awkward transition from something often used as the delivery for a Meta-MeTa joke to something more title-y.. posted by mediocre at 2:23 PM on February 1
I'm going to speculate that it's because cuteness evolved as a signalling mechanism to keep us from killing our young. If we hadn't evolved to appreciate our young we'd treat them as the parasites they effectively are (and thus die out). But there has to be some countervailing mechanism for when their isn't enough food to go around to support young or when we need to murder cute prey animals, hence aggression. posted by BrotherCaine at 2:54 PM on February 1
I don't need sites like Cute Overload. I have my cat, and he's all the cute I need. Although I do sometimes maybe overhug him a bit (because hearing him purr makes me happy), but not past the point he tells me to stop. (And, no, not by biting.)
Although, a cute partner would be accepted. posted by Samizdata at 4:08 PM on February 1
I'm lookin' at your face and I just wanna smash it. I just wanna fuckin' smash it with a sledgehammer and squeeze it. You're so pretty. posted by Smedleyman at 5:22 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
I feel bad for the poor "neutral" animals signing the photo-releases, realizing just how "neutral" they are. Some poor sad-sack duck wearing an old scally cap. Hey, duck. Don't worry. I think you're pretty. You're pretty in your own special way. I'd pop some bubbles for you, little neutral duck.
posted by Greg Nog at 11:57 AM on February 1 [7 favorites]