Cuteness is in the eye (and brain) of the beholder - Genome BC (2024)

FAQs

Are we programmed to think babies are cute? ›

But when we see a baby's face, those messages flow to the fusiform area and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is involved with pleasure and emotions. In this way, our brains process babies' faces as not just faces, but cute faces.

When we encounter something cute, it ignites fast brain activity in regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex, which are linked to emotion and pleasure.

"Dopamine is one of the most important hormones that trigger happiness and a positive emotional response," Sehat says. "Whenever we see tiny things we find cute and attractive, our brain releases dopamine and makes us feel happy."

Instead, scientists think it is a way we cope with intense positive emotions. “Cute aggression seems to be a mechanism to manage the overload of positive feelings we can get when we interact with something too cute for us to handle,” says Associate Professor Lisa A. Williams, a social psychologist from UNSW Science.

Lorenz proposed the concept of baby schema (Kindchenschema), a set of facial and body features that make a creature appear "cute" and activate ("release") in others the motivation to care for it. Cuteness may be ascribed to people as well as things that are regarded as attractive or charming.

Cuteness or homeliness in infancy does not predict future attractiveness. Still, parents often wrestle with the possibility that they will have an ugly baby. In fact, some parents feel that their newborn is ugly and feel sheepish about it.

The feeling of intense euphoria after seeing cute things is not an isolated incidence. Kittens trigger serotonin and dopamine in people's brains, making them more loveable to people. The simple phrase of “awh” can't help but escape your lips when you see big brown eyes and a delicate button nose.

Larger eyes are in accord with baby schema; in other words, large eyes convey more infantile features and may cause observers to perceive a high level of cuteness. Therefore, the eyes may play an important role in the perception of observers of the cuteness of an object.

Neurological Response: When humans encounter cuteness, the brain's reward system is activated. Neurotransmitters like dopamine, associated with pleasure and satisfaction, are released. This reaction is not just limited to human babies but extends to animals and even inanimate objects exhibiting baby-like features.

Oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, activates feelings of trust and attraction between people when it is released in the brain, and it rises in the early stages of romantic love.

Does seeing a pretty girl release dopamine? ›

Studies show that when people view pictures of their romantic partners, multiple areas of the brain are flooded with dopamine, triggering those euphoric feelings. Dopamine is what is responsible for bodily changes associated with attraction, too.

Biological response of oxytocin attaches the adults to infants and vasopressin is somehow associated with aggressive feelings. Cute aggression, such as biting, squeezing, and tackling, is related to the intersection of emotional responses and reward centers.

Aragon is a leading expert on dimorphous expressions and first identified the phenomenon of cute aggression, which causes people to grit their teeth, clench their fists or feel the urge to bite, pinch and squeeze something cute. While the actions might seem aggressive, there's no desire to cause harm.

Don't worry, what you're experiencing is perfectly normal. It's called cute aggression or playful aggression. Cute aggression is a type of 'dimorphous expression'. That's when your external actions or expressions don't match what you're feeling on the inside.

Although cuteness can be a matter of personal preference, people tend to find young mammals cute and adorable, and this is likely part of an evolutionary development.

From an evolutionary standpoint, cuteness is a very potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants.

Researchers showed that a region of the human brain called the medial orbitofrontal cortex is specifically active within a seventh of a second in response to (unfamiliar) infant faces but not to adult faces. Why do we almost instinctively treat babies as special, protecting them and enabling them to survive?

We find babies cute to compensate for their being so demanding of effort and attention. We need an emotional incentive to take care of them. Mammal species that don't find their needy young to be cute are all extinct. There's an evolutionary bias for this.

There are deep psychological reasons why humans find babies of all species so cute. Scientists believe that the powerful nurturing instinct we have for our own children spills over into an affection for anything that even loosely resembles them.