Looking at pictures of cute animals has been linked to increased productivity at work, having a calming effect, and of course eliciting that warm and fuzzy feeling.
But a study shows it can also encourage aggressive reactions.
Start typing “so cute I could…” into Google and a plethora of violent and threatening suggestions follow.
“So cute I could eat you/kill you/maul you” may be searched in jest, but their aggressive sentiments are backed up by a survey of web surfers browsing animal pictures ranked “cute”, “funny” and “neutral” with their reactions monitored.
Click through to see pictures and read the results.
“Cuteness” in animals has been pinpointed as having big eyes, big cheeks, and big forehead.
The baby panda is thought to be one of the cutest on the planet in line with this.
Looking at cute animals has been proven to increase productivity at work.
But Yale grads conducted a study linking cuteness with aggressive tendencies.
They found a connection between observing a cute animal and a desire to squish or squeeze it.
They labelled the reaction “cute aggression”.
Participants looking at cute animals were also more likely to report feeling a loss of control.
Participants were also given bubble wrap to pop while viewing animal pics.
More bubbles were popped while looking at cute images rather than funny or neutral.
The study, yet to be published, suggests the cute photos incite some kind of aggression.
But that could be put down to more of an “over-emotional” reaction than a violent one.
How does this little guy make you feel?
Do these kittens make your blood boil?
Past research has been contradictory.
A 2012 Japanese inferred cute animals stirred positive emotions.
It’s been discovered cute animals really do stirred positive emotions.
