Cuteness Psychology: Of cute mice and ugly babies

Tania explains the psychology of cuteness, cute aggression, happy tears, and dimorphous expressions. Brian tries to understand how being ugly as a baby might have impacted his life. Together, they explore how cuteness is saving the world.

Talk psych to us:
Instagram: @talkpsychtomepodcast
Email: [email protected]

Further Reading:

• Sherman, Haidt, & James Coan, 2009: Viewing Cute Images Increases Behavioral Carefulness
• Aragón, 2015: "I Couldn’t Help But to Cry!” “I Couldn’t Help But to Yell “Yes!”” Dimorphous Expressions Inform Consumers of Users’ Motivational Orientations
• Aragón, Clark, Dyer, & Bargh, 2015: Dimorphous Expressions of Positive Emotion: Displays of Both Care and Aggression in Response to Cute Stimuli
• Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998: Positive Emotions Speed Recovery from Cardiovascular Sequelae of Negative Emotion.
• Kringelbach, Stark, Alexander, Bornstein, & Stein, 2016: On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond
• Stavropoulos & Alba, 2018: “It’s so Cute I Could Crush It!”: Understanding Neural Mechanisms of Cute Aggression
• Budds, 2019: “Why Cute Design is Aww-some”
• Neotenic design: https://a-d-o.com/neotenic

Produced by Scarlet Moon Things
Music by Barrie Gledden, Kes Loy, and Richard Kimmings

Special thanks to Kim Keating, Max Cohen and Vicky Kuperman for research and ideation support.