What thoughts light up in your mind when you see these primate pics?

Odds are pretty good that you’ll find yourself emoting at least one “Awwww. That’s so cute!” Most baby animals are cute, but pretty much anything can become cute with a little help from human technology. Take children’s cartoons, for example. Cuteness has been endowed upon all sorts of things, including insects, rodents, reptiles, aliens, vegetables, appliances, insects, and yes, even planes, trains, and automobiles. But, what makes these characters cute? Better yet, why do we think anything is cute in the first place?

First, what makes something elicit the aww response? Generally speaking, cuteness is related to the presence of a particular set of features, such as big heads, button noses, large eyes set low and wide on the head, pudgy little bodies, short arms and legs, high voices, and a little waddle in the walk. Human babies naturally have all these features, and we do tend to find our own babies incredibly adorable.

Take a look at the picture to the right, and you can see the differences in the juvenile and adult forms of certain animals. When asked, most people say that they prefer the images on the left, or the cuter baby faces.

This image was designed and published by the Austrian Nobel-prize winning scientist Konrad Lorenz, c. 1940 (Kindchenschema). Lorenz suggested that certain infantile features (the cute factor) trigger a nurturing response in adults. Feeling an attraction to babies makes us more likely to care for them, and in fact, it is so strong, that the feeling even spills over into caring for other species that we deem to be attractive.

Later, in what has since become a classic work of scientific literature, “Homage to Mickey Mouse,” Stephen Jay Gould addressed further the “cute factor” as he analyzed the physical changes Mickey Mouse underwent from the 1930s through the 80s. Mickey starts out as a pretty standard looking rodent and ends up looking…well, quite childlike!

Note in particular how Mickey’s ears and head got bigger, his nose flattened out and took an upward turn, his arms and legs got shorter and pudgier, and the size of his eyes grew quite large relative to his face. Mickey got cutified. Also, if you look at Mickey’s antagonists over the years, the bad guys haven’t changed much, remaining long and wiry, with more adult features (i.e. not cute!).

So, why are we attracted and subsequently compelled to spend hard-owned dough purchasing Mickey dolls and other cute paraphernalia? Our love of all things adorable is likely to be advantageous for the survival of our species. Humans (and many other primates) have very long developmental times, requiring tons of parental involvement for many years.  This is a good thing overall  because children have the opportunity to learn extensive amounts of information from their parents before they head out into the real world.  But, as every parent knows, children are exceptionally demanding, both mentally and physically.

In light of these costs, our ability to form strong bonds with babies provides us with an intense desire to take proper care of our children, especially in the beginning when they are quite helpless and need almost limitless attention.  Further, our ability to recognize that other children are cute enables us to help others with their young when they need it as well.  And because this is such a deeply instinctual response, we can’t help but be attracted to other animals that share the cutest features we see in our own young.

For a whole website full of fun, lovable things, check out CuteOverload. Warning, you may die from all the cuteness or worse yet, “barf rainbows,” as the site has indicated can happen to its viewers from time to time.