Why Do We Want To Squeeze Cute Things?
Egbert Don't you just want to pinch his little hamster cheeks? Keith Pomakis via Wikimedia Commons Studying how adorable animals can turn us aggressive Seeing something cute actually does bring out aggression in us, according to a paper presented at Society for Personality and Social Psychology's annual meeting in New Orleans last Friday. Researchers found 109 people to look at pictures of animals -- cute, funny and "neutral" photos of fluffy, fluffy puppies. The lucky participants then rated how they felt about the pictures: whether they agreed with the statement like "I just can't handle it!" (or perhaps "It's so fluffy I want to die!" whether they made them want to squeeze something or whether they were suddenly seized with the impulse to say something like "grr!" The cuter the animal, the more aggressive the response. The study's researchers, led by Rebecca Dyer, a graduate student in psychology at...