Ever wonder why our natural reaction to things that are too cute is often a visceral sort of violence?
Dads who observe their children being overly cute will grab them and tickle them with an intensity that borders on the painful, while women with new kittens will pick them up and come close to literally throwing them around as they play.
It turns out, this reaction is completely normal and is a sort of strange "over the top" venting reaction our brains have when too much happy stimuli is given.
The 'Cute Aggression' Study
Researchers at Yale University presented a study at last month's Society for Personality and Social Behavior which found that people watching a slideshow of adorable pictures popped more bubbles on average on sheets of bubble wrap than did those who were watching humorous or neutral slides.
The study was called "Cute Aggression" by its researchers, who noted that while participants didn't want to hurt the things they were viewing, they did have more aggressive tendencies towards neutral, inanimate objects as a consequence.
Although co-researchers Rebecca Dyer and Oriana Aragon aren't sure what actually causes the aggressive response, their theory is that it is linked to the similar reactions happy people have to those who are reacting to pain or extreme sadness and the brain chemistry that may be at work in both cases.
"It might be that's how we deal with high positive-emotion is to sort of give it a negative pitch somehow," Dyer said. "That sort of regulates, keeps us level and releases that energy."
You can find out more about this study here.
Photo by John Nyboer
