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Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults
08:25

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Published on: October 19, 2014

Viewing cute images increases behavioral carefulness.

Gary D Sherman1, Jonathan Haidt, James A Coan

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA. gds6d@virginia.edu

Emotion (Washington, D.C.)
|April 8, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Perceiving cuteness, especially in very cute animals like kittens, enhances behavioral carefulness. This suggests cuteness may be an evolutionary adaptation to promote caregiving for vulnerable infants.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Infantile physical morphology, characterized by "cuteness," is hypothesized to elicit caregiving behaviors.
  • However, the precise mechanisms by which cuteness influences immediate human behavior remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the functional role of perceived cuteness in modulating behavioral carefulness.
  • To determine if enhanced carefulness facilitates caregiving for delicate young.

Main Methods:

  • Two experiments were conducted involving participants viewing images of varying degrees of cuteness.
  • Performance on a subsequent fine-motor dexterity task (the "Operation" game) was measured to assess behavioral carefulness.

Main Results:

  • Viewing "very cute" images (kittens, puppies) significantly improved performance on the fine-motor task compared to viewing "slightly cute" images (cats, dogs).
  • This indicates that exposure to high-cuteness stimuli enhances behavioral carefulness.

Conclusions:

  • Human sensitivity to cuteness may be an evolved trait that promotes carefulness.
  • This enhanced carefulness is beneficial for caring for small, delicate individuals, such as human infants.