On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond

Abstract

Cuteness in offspring is a potent protective mechanism that ensures survival for otherwise completely dependent infants. Previous research has linked cuteness to early ethological ideas of a “kindchenschema” (infant schema) where infant facial features serve as “innate releasing mechanisms” for instinctual caregiving behaviours. We propose extending the concept of cuteness beyond visual features to include positive infant sounds and smells. Evidence from behavioural and neuroimaging studies links this extended concept of cuteness to simple “instinctual” behaviours and to caregiving, protection and complex emotions. We review how cuteness supports key parental capacities by igniting fast privileged neural activity followed by slower processing in large brain networks also involved in play, empathy, and perhaps even higher-order moral emotions.

Too sweet to eat: Exploring the effects of cuteness on meat consumption

“…Both conditions showed the version of the lamb chops advertisement from Study 1 that included the picture of the lamb. Crucially, however, using photo-editing software, the animal was either altered to look neutral or to look cute by changing aspects that typically are associated with a "baby-like" look, such as size of the eyes or the chin, round head shape or a high forehead (Kringelbach et al, 2016). As in Study 1, the advertisement was presented for all dependent variables.…”

“…Throughout the manuscript, the term cuteness is used to denote responses to such perceptions of infant-like or baby schema traits of non-human animals. Although some scholars have suggested that the cuteness concept should also include aspects such as infant smells or sounds (Kringelbach et al, 2016), we merely focus on the visual domain here.…”

“…A number of theoretical accounts have argued that such motivations are direct and causal outcomes of cuteness responses (Kringelbach et al, 2016;Sherman & Haidt, 2011). Extensive experimental evidence has been provided on this proposition (Glocker et al, 2009;Nittono et al, 2012;Sherman et al, 2009).…”

The neural basis of responsive caregiving behaviour: Investigating temporal dynamics within the parental brain

“…1; [30][31][32]]. This configuration, is typically perceived as pleasant and rewarding and has come to be known as the 'Kindchenschema', or more commonly 'cuteness' [33][34][35]. Soon after birth, infants are capable of producing a range of facial expressions, including smiling and frowning [36].…”

Seeing overweight adults as babies: Physical cues and implications for stigmatization

“…Also, the baby's neck clearly appears thick, short, and almost absent, and gets longer and thinner with increasing maturation. Finally, specific facial features of babies and infants (e.g., relatively large fore head, large eyes, and small nose and chin) are known to be responsible for perceptions of cuteness and tender and protective feelings (Berry & McArthur, 1986; Kringelbach, Stark, Alexander, Bornstein, & Stein, 2016; Lorenz, 1943; Zebrowitz, Fellous, Mignault, & Andreoletti, 2003). Of special relevance for the present paper, when the same features are present in adult faces, they arouse similar perceptions and reactions, suggesting that the perception of facial babyishness and the underlying care mechanism may be overgeneralized and easily misfires (Zebrowitz et al ., 2003).…”