Almost everyone is familiar with the urge of wanting to squeeze little animals or pinch cheeks of babies. But have you ever wondered why do we get such an aggressive reaction to such adorable things?
Like always, science has it all figured out. Well, almost.
According to a study, one of the reasons why we behave like this is because we have so much pent-up aggression and our natural instinct is to take care of the baby/animal. And the fact that we have so much pent-up aggression and we can’t touch or cuddle with the cute thing through a photograph, we get frustrated. This is termed as ‘cute aggression’.
The researchers handed out bubble wrap to the participants and those who looked at pictures of small animals and babies burst way more bubbles than those who looked at pictures of adult animals.
Another reason that researchers believed to be true is that people find the cuteness too good to be true. At times, human beings respond negatively to positive experiences – like crying when happy. Researchers also think that this negative reaction to such an overwhelming experience balances it out.
Now we know why!