SALON

Thursday, Jan 24, 2013 10:34 PM UTC

The science behind wanting to squeeze adorable things

Cute aggression is real. That chubby cat jumping through soda boxes could make you a danger to yourself VIDEO

By

Topics: Video, cute, Cats, cute animals, Science, study, Research, ,

The science behind wanting to squeeze adorable things (Credit: Shutterstock)

You know that thing when you see something so cute that you just want to squeeze it? Well now there’s a scientific explanation for your semi-aggressive behavior toward all things adorable!

A recent Yale University study asked 109 people to look at pictures of animals. Some of the photos were cute (like this baby gorilla!), some were funny (like this dog who hates wearing socks!) while others were classified as “neutral” images (maybe like this unimpressed cat?). Then researchers asked participants how they felt about the pictures.

As it turns out, the cuter the animal, the more aggressive the response.

The study’s head researcher, Rebecca Dyer, a graduate student in psychology, calls the phenomenon “cute aggression.” “We think it’s about high positive-affect, an approach orientation and almost a sense of lost control,” she told Popular Science.

Then researchers went a step further to test whether verbal aggression produced by cute overload can turn into physical aggression. Spoiler: It can!

After being shown more animal pictures, volunteers were given bubble wrap and told they could pop as much of it as they wanted. After watching a slideshow of cute animals, people popped 120 bubbles on average, whereas people watching the funny and neutral slideshows popped only 80 and 100 bubbles.

So there you have it. Cute aggression is real. Rather than helping you kill time at the office, that video of an adorable cat jumping through soda boxes could make you a danger to yourself.

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 8 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations