Cute Aggression

What type of sensations did you feel by just looking at those pictures of baby animals?

• laser focus on the animal
• a need to squeeze something in the vicinity, typically the animal
• a need to giggle or cry out 
• a thought that you "could just eat it up" or "squeeze it's face"
• an urge to squeal, growl, or proclaim to the world, “It’s so fluffy, I’m going to die!!”

If you said yes to any or all of these experiences, you may suffer from a case of “Cute Aggression.”

See I bet you just felt one or more of those emotions again.

Cute aggression is the almost-overwhelming urge to do violence an object/animal that we find absolutely adorable. This term was made aware by a research team at Yale University a few years ago. They performed a study on how people reacted to pictures of baby animals. The reactions were all considered "violent" of wanting to "eat them up" or "squeeze them to death". A follow up study was performed. In this study, they gave the participants bubble wrap to pop while looking at these pictures. The outcome was that more bubbles were popped when looking at these cute pictures compared to neutral or funny pictures. People have extreme positive emotions and 'displayed stronger aggressive expressions' such as wanting to pinch the babies' cheeks, or popping bubbles.

So what does this mean? It correlates to how the brain regulates in times of high emotional stimulation. These pictures/animals drive us to want to nurture the animal. There is so much happiness that your brain doesn't know how to handle it, that it turns to the opposite emotions in an aggressive form. Researches speculate that "the frustration of not being able to satisfy the intense desire to care for the viewed object results in a type of violent response - a form of care-giving instinct gone feral." 

The good news is that, there is obviously no real intent to harm the animal, just protect it. So next time you see that fluffy animal, realize that you aren't alone and there is actual scientific evidence of why you "can't even".