WEBVTT - The Science of Cute 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.560 Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:17.680 There's Charles w. Cute as a button Bryant, and there's 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:22.480 Jerry squee rolland and this is stuff you should know 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:27.040 of the podcast. A cute addition, that's right, the science 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.960 a cute. Yeah, I'm excited about this when I've been 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.519 wanting to do it for a while. I remember, like 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:34.160 that was one of the first things you ever said 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.680 to me when we met in the office, how cute 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.240 you are? Well? No, we were in the break room 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:44.440 and I saw a picture of a baby panda and 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:48.720 I just started to melt, and you went, hey, jerk, 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.879 you ever wonder why you think things are cute? I 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.800 bet there's science behind that. Maybe we should talk about 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.440 it one day, and look here we are. What was that, 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:04.959 well thirteen years ago almost man, you really responded to 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:12.400 that aggression into so chuck. Have you ever heard of 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:18.759 Mickey Mouse? Oh? I know several mice, but I've never 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.120 heard of Mickey Mouse. You've only heard of Modeled Muck 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:26.120 and Ricky Rouse. Um, well, let me tell you about 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.959 Mickey Mouse. He's actually the mascot of a very large 0:01:29.120 --> 0:01:34.520 entertainment corporation called Disney. Uh. They own Walt Disney World, 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.320 Walt Disneyland. I think ABC owns them. They're they're affiliated 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.839 with ESPN. They're very, very big. But they have this mascot. 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:47.200 It's a mouse and his name's Mickey. He's he's kind 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:51.320 of big, especially abroad. Um. But if you look at 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.320 Mickey today, you think, wow, that's a really cute mouse. 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:56.639 Doesn't really look like a mouse. He's black and white 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.960 basically are brownish and black. Um. But also his few 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.640 teachers are very much not mouse like. But if you 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.680 were to go back and look at the beginning of Mickey, 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:10.080 I think he's from the nine twenties, like nineteen twenties. 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:14.560 In his earliest cartoons, he looked a lot more mousey 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:18.040 like cartoon mouse, but he had, you know, his pointed features, 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.880 not nearly as cute. But then if you fast forward 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.920 about ten years later, by the time rolls around and 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.720 he's in something called The Brave Taylor that was one 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.160 of his shorts, UM where I think he defeats a 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:34.560 giant or something like that. Um, he looks full blown 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:37.720 Mickey Mouse, but he looks way cuter and they had 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.600 done a few things to him. They had like made 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.320 his eyes bigger, they've made his features rounder less pointed. Um, 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.800 he had big gloves and big shoes. Now he's kind 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.880 of plump and oversized features, and he had gotten cute. 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.640 And the scientist Stephen Jay Gould, who really deserves his 0:02:55.680 --> 0:02:59.200 own episode like Carl Sagan does, Um, just a really 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:04.720 interesting dude. Um. He said that Disney and his animators 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:10.480 had stumbled upon something that the zoologists and mythologist Conrad 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:14.760 Lawrence UM termed can can schema. I think I got 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:20.239 that right right. Uh yeah, can can schema very nice. Um. 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:24.440 But like years before Conrad Lawrence ever did that, they 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.040 had just kind of naturally figured out like, oh, this 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.079 can be way more appealing if we if we exaggerate 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.639 these particular features. And it turns out what they had 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:37.800 done is make him literally cut by the very scientific 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:42.839 definition of cuteness. Yeah. So Lawrence was an Austrian scientist 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.640 and in the forties came up with this. And this 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.800 made me feel quite good about myself actually looking over 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:53.960 this list about physical qualities that um, and it's not 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:55.680 just a person came me an animal. As we'll see 0:03:55.680 --> 0:03:58.640 a lot of this is animal based. But these things, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:02.160 these traits that would evoke a positive response, a very 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:08.440 strong positive response, and they are large head. M that's me, um, 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.320 high protruding forehead. I've always said you have a five head. 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:16.800 If any, it's it's average, large eyes, sort of average, 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:21.400 chubby cheeks bingo. Oh, you should make the cheeks make 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.840 a sonic appearance. Very nice. It's been years, still as 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:29.960 moist as ever. Sorry, everyone. Uh, chubby cheeks, small nose, 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.320 I'm an average nose, small mouth, and chin I'd say 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:38.160 average short, thick extremities, actually have sort of skinny legs. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.440 I'll carry my weight between my chin and my belt. 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:46.159 Plump body shape. Bingo. So I am scientifically half cute. 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.720 You are very cute. I mean that's definitely. It's not 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.640 even up for debate. Really, I used to get called 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.640 cute by the ladies. Not handsome, but cute. There's definitely 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.760 I saw that. Um. Paul McCartney hated being known as 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.800 the cute beetle, probably for the same you know, the 0:05:03.120 --> 0:05:07.160 same differences that you just mentioned, probably, but the the 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:09.240 like what you just said, this list you just you 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:14.360 just um you rattled off. That is Lawrence's kinkin schema 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.279 or baby schema or baby nous, which is basically like, 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:19.520 if you put all these things together, you have what 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:24.200 amounts to what we humans consider cute, and you can extrapolate, 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.400 like you were saying, not just onto babies, but onto 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:32.480 other animals and even onto like cartoon characters. Yeah, you 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.000 either have these things and you're regarded as cute, or 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.640 you don't and you're not exactly. Yeah, that's a really 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.880 good point that you can you can not only have this, 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:44.120 you can also lack it, and that that has that 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:48.560 modulates our response to whatever that thing is. Yeah, and 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.840 it's also important to point out that this is these 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:54.960 are guidelines, scientific sort of guidelines and truisms, but not 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.120 across the board like some people. Beauty is in the 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:00.600 eye of the beholder and cuteness is sure, So some 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.040 people might look at a baby, I don't know, just 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.719 some sort of weird reptilian thing that has none of 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:10.960 these traits and think it's super cute as well. Right, Yeah, yeah, 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:14.640 it is kind of subjective, but there does seem to 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:22.520 be um if not universal or widely tapped into sense 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:26.320 of what's cute and what's not. You know what, I mean, yeah, still, 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:28.440 let me rephrase that the person that thinks the baby 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.240 lizard that has none of these traits is cute, they 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.160 probably also think the panda is cute, right, you know 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.720 what I'm saying, Right, Yeah, they're probably not disgusted or 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:42.279 just totally turn off that dirty, ugly baby kitten. And 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.960 so so Lawrence was um. He compiled this list based 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.360 on his observations, and I guess from what I read, 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.600 like this whole study of cuteness is pretty young as 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.560 far as scientific investigation goes, So you know that we're 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.159 still figuring it out. It's still developing as it goes along. 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:02.400 Some of the study is involved or fairly suspect, but 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:09.040 there seems to be this this kind of general acceptance 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:13.200 of Lawrenz's k Kinkin schema, which is that it was 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:18.240 just it's so it's so obviously correct that from what 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.880 I read, some people just haven't even investigated, which is 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:26.440 good and bad. Um. Lawrence was a behaviorist and he 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.520 actually we met him first in our animal imprinting episode, 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.080 which was a really good one, but he studied that, um. 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.400 But he put this all together to study behaviors, and 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:40.360 what he was studying is exactly how babies UM get 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.360 adult humans who may not even be their parents to 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:47.680 respond to them in a way that um, that adult 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:51.520 wants to take care of that baby. And what he 0:07:51.720 --> 0:07:55.720 what he came up with was this kinkin schema cuteness. Uh. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:08:00.720 What he said unlocks um innate instincts in humans that 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:06.000 basically triggers like automatic behaviors like oh, I want to 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:07.760 make sure that you stay alive, so I'm going to 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:10.600 go find you some food that kind of stuff. Yeah, 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:14.600 And it corresponds to helplessness at birth. There's a direct 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:20.200 correlation between um, how cute you look and how how 0:08:20.240 --> 0:08:22.120 little you can get buy in your own In the 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:28.120 animal kingdom, um, most mammals are born very small, very helpless. 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.400 Uh many months sometimes weeks, sometimes months, sometimes years of 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:34.080 care before they can go off and kind of do 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:38.160 their own thing. That's called altricial. What to take to 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:42.400 being born helpless? You're altricial. Yeah, so if you're altricial, 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:48.959 you're probably almost more cute than an animal that is 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:51.920 born that can kind of run right out and do 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.880 things on their own, probably not as cute. That's precociale 0:08:56.040 --> 0:09:00.280 altricial and precocial, right, and and the thing is is like, 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.560 if you step back, like it's just so easy to 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:05.560 just overlook this, and if you really start to think 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:10.760 about this, cuteness has been this adaptive, I guess, evolutionary 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:13.920 trait that's just been hiding and plain sight until Lawrence 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.400 really put his finger on it. But if you step 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:20.280 back and think about it, there's no there's no innate 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.400 or there's no reason that a baby has in and 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.840 of itself to evoke a response and a human even 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:32.520 its parents, um to want to take care of it, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.319 but it needs that because it is an altricial species. 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.080 Humans are an altricial species. They'll they'll just die out 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.400 if you don't take care of a baby, and if 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.440 enough babies die out, eventually humanity dies out, the species 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:50.040 dies out. So it's an adaptation to make somebody want 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.280 to take care of you. And that is what Lawrence 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:57.400 figured out. That cuteness is that trigger that we find 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.040 babies cute and it makes us want to take care 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:03.040 of them. And that is one of the most mind 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:05.839 blowing things I know. Yeah, I mean if you look 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:10.840 at human babies. Human babies are born pretty early in 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.439 their development, like if um all things being equal. Human 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.959 babies should probably be born six months later than they are, 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.520 but they're not. Human babies come out very early. They 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.439 come out before their little fontanelles are even formed, and 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:34.760 they need a lot of care and uh, they're they're 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:38.800 born that Like, human babies are small so they can 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.760 fit out of the birth canal. Their little noses are 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:45.080 cartilage so they don't get broken on the way out. 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:50.080 Like you know, babies should have larger heads and should 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.640 have like that should but you know what I'm saying, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.640 fully formed like strong noses, but they wouldn't be able 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:58.920 to to come out of a lady if that was 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:02.040 the case. Yeah, because our brains are have have developed 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:04.720 to be so big, and our craniums have developed in 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.480 in response to that that like we're evolutionarily speaking or 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:14.160 developmentally speaking, we're underdeveloped when we're born, even though we're 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.920 we would have been born at like a normal normal 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.600 gestation period for a human compared to other species. It's 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:23.559 like you're, this kid's out a little. This kid hasn't 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:25.880 baked fully, you know what I'm saying. And so that 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:30.120 really makes human babies even among you know, other mammals 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:34.559 that are altricial super dependent on caregivers to make sure 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.560 that it survives. Yeah. So, like a human baby's head 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.320 is really large compared to their body. Um, and these 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.600 are you know, these are some of the cuteness traits 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:46.720 that we mentioned early. On their eyes. You know, your 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.760 eyes don't really grow. Your eyes are about the same size. 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.920 I didn't know that, did you. Yeah, that's why when 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:53.480 you look at some babies and you're like, look how 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:55.959 huge their eyes are, it's just because they're on a 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.320 little tiny face. It makes sense, But I just had 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:02.080 never known that you're born basically the size that they're 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:03.760 going to be when you grow up. I think if 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:05.240 you really work them out, they can beef up a 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:10.160 little bit. Though. We mentioned those tiny little noses super 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:14.560 cute and very bendy. Um, they're little baby cheeks and 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.520 everything soft so you can get out of that birth canal. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.880 And you know, formula and mother's milk keep you kind 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:25.800 of chunky and full. Um. You know, nobody's gonna put 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:30.120 a baby on a diet, no good lord, no. Um. 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.120 The skin is very loosed and soft. H. So you know, 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.760 if you go through a big gross spurt, it doesn't 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:40.600 you know, split open sounds gross. Uh, and then you 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:43.240 know the way babies move, it's just just very cute there. 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:46.400 Babies are awkward and they're clumsy, and um, they don't 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.560 like have the definition to like manipulate these these muscle 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.640 groups very well. Yet Yeah, and it's awkward and gawky 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.160 and super cute. All of this stuff together is cute 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.480 to us. And it raises the question, like, did babies 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:04.160 evolved human babies evolved to fit our definition of cute 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.400 or did our definition Actually I've seen both. I've seen both. 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.240 So it makes sense that like our definition of what's 0:13:11.320 --> 0:13:13.240 cute and what we respond to is cute would be 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:17.320 based on the average human baby. But you can also 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:22.920 take an average human baby and tweak, like digitally, um, 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.520 a picture of a baby and tweak it to maximum cuteness. 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.600 And so there's this other idea that Okay, maybe originally 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.560 our idea of cuteness was based on baby features, But 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:39.600 the cutest babies would um logically get the most response 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.280 and would be the most the most likely yeah, and 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.600 would be the most likely to survive and thrive and 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.000 go on to reproduce. So it is entirely possible that 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.600 we have a speed as a species have gotten cuter 0:13:52.160 --> 0:13:55.680 over the over the eons because of selection of the 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:59.360 for the cutest babies. Well, and that's been critical to 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:04.280 our serve bible. Um. You know it's uh when you 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.120 see something like that, when you see a baby chick, 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.640 you your instinct is to pick it up and cradle 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.600 it and make sure you know that a tree branch 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.560 doesn't fall on it, right, And that's the same goes 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.040 for babies. Yeah, because they share a lot of the 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:23.240 same similarities, the same kin kin kin schema. I wish 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:25.000 that ken wasn't in there. I wish it was just 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.120 kin den schema. Call it that. Then. I don't want 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.560 to get things wrong all the time, and we do. 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:36.040 We do. It's usually not purposefully, you know, Okay, But um, 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:40.640 that same set of traits can apply to other animals. 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:42.680 It was like you were saying, you know, animals that 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.400 fall into that set of traits appear cute to us, 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.280 and we want to save them, we want to take 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.720 care of them. Um. Like a little baby giraffe has 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.000 huge eyes, its features are kind of small compared to 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:58.680 a larger adult draft which even adult drafts are awfully cute. 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.600 But one of the things that a baby draft is 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.680 going to get you with is hobbling around trying to 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:06.800 stand up that first time I hit you with those 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.160 little shaky legs look out. Yeah, and that reminds us 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.200 or reminds some very ancient part of our brain of 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.560 human infant, you know, like developing its motor skill. So 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.560 it seems like it's not like our brains are confused, 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.400 like you're not looking at a baby giraffe, like, look 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:27.520 at that baby human. I love it. It's just it 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:32.000 triggers the same part of the brain that seeing a 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.400 human infant does, um, because of that same set of characteristics. Yeah, Like, 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:39.480 there was a study I found on mental flaws from 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:44.680 two thousand nine where scientists reported that, uh, people in 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.200 the study that viewed really cute images of puppies and 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.400 kittens performed better in the game of Operation you know, 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.240 the kids game than people who saw less like that 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:56.960 saw pictures of grown up dogs and cats. So it 0:15:57.040 --> 0:16:01.600 just innately triggers this care response. It's really really interesting. Yeah. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.840 And so what Lorenz called that innate releasers, that that 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.680 you see a cute baby and the cuteness acts as 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.040 an innate releaser, which triggers a set of inborn instincts 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.600 in every human to take care of that baby, and 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.960 that one apparently hasn't necessarily borne out. But there is 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.200 a lot of or there's an increasing amount of documentation 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:26.720 about how seeing something cute affects the brain. And I 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.880 propose that we take a commercial break and then come 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.400 back and talk about that afterwards. We'll be right back. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:04.199 I think I has a commercial break. Sure, I now 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.120 it's in the in the survey, it's like an after 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.440 school special all of a sudden, so um, I think 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:12.159 before we dive into what you're talking about, I do 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.639 want to mention the wolf puppy thing. I thought it 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:18.679 was pretty interesting, is that there is an example of 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:23.120 a co evolved trait with the human brain that triggers 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:27.040 that cuteness response when you look at wolves wild wolves apparently, 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:31.119 and these were predogs. Basically, Um, they don't have this 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:35.399 muscle called the uh. Here we go with some Latin. 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:41.360 I guess uh leabator angouli oculi. Mettie Alice just made 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:46.359 a demon appere Oh my god, Um, this muscle they 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.600 don't have in their eyebrows, and apparently that is the 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.200 muscle that can make what we think of as puppy 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:55.320 dog eyes. Dogs that came later did of all that muscle, 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.480 and then we're bred for it because it made people 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:02.879 melt inside. Uh so that's why wolves, which is interesting, 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:05.240 like wolves have that sort of scowl and they can't 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:07.840 help it. But then I looked at wolf puppy pictures 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.480 and it's pretty cute. But maybe it's not in the eyes. 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.040 I don't know. Yeah, I don't know what it is either, 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.119 but that I think that raises a really good question 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:18.800 that also kind of points out it like this, this 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:23.080 research is still very young, and there's contradictory information coming 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:24.480 in and a lot of it is just based on 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.840 intuition and that kind of thing. But there are, like 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.160 you said, there's that there are people walking around who think, 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.200 like that baby lizard is super cute. You know what 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.439 I'm saying, Like it it's not entirely universal, and you know, 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.119 maybe those wolf puppies have some other traits that have 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:43.719 nothing to do with the eyes that that are hijacking 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:47.040 your brain. The point that stands out to me is 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.919 that that that caregiving instinct that Lorenz pointed out, or 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.120 whatever whatever weird brain pathway we have, um, that's triggered 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.200 by seeing something cute, is that it extends beyond humans. 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.800 And I think that that kind of that that makes 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:05.160 humanity as a species like that much greater in my opinion, 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:10.320 that like that caregiving impulse can extend beyond humans. And 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:12.840 I mean that explains pets right there. Like, I don't 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.800 think we would have pets if that wasn't true, you know, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:17.920 I mean, we'd have like guard dogs or something still, 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.400 but you know, not a pet. There would be German shepherds. 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.240 There'd be nothing but and they'd all be mean as 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.080 as snakes. And we probably have snakes too. That rode 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.639 the German shepherds. They still wouldn't be pets. Baby snakes 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.040 not so cute. There's also that weird thing where something 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:36.639 is so ugly it's cute as a young thing. Okay, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.240 so that's a Japanese term. We'll talk about kawaie later. 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:45.600 But there's something called chemo kawaii, which is called gross cute. Interesting. Yeah, 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.879 they they've they've got it. That's something they're like the Germans, 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.399 but further east, they have like a name and a 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:53.840 term in idea for everything. You know. All right, we'll 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.080 put a pin in that because we did promise the 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.399 science of cute. So we're gonna have to look at um, 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.040 we're gonna have to look at the brain and actually 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.000 what's going on there. And they've done that of course. UM. 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.520 They've put people in the Wonder machine and they have 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:10.320 shown people pictures of baby faces to see what lights up. 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.640 And when that happens, you get a really strong immediate 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:19.000 response and what's called the orbitofrontal cortex, which is where 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.560 we regulate our emotions and our pleasure, and it's a 0:20:21.600 --> 0:20:26.679 really really fast response, um one seven of a second. Um. 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:29.119 It doesn't take long when you see that baby or 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.399 that puppy or whatever you don't it doesn't take you 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.720 long to to immediately think, I need to care for 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.439 that thing and hold that thing. Yeah, Because so that 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:42.159 orbitofrontal cortex UM apparently has something to do with the 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:46.639 reward system. So your attention is captured very quickly and 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:50.000 you get a little burst of of pleasure from seeing 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:53.200 that that cute baby. And then there's another thing too 0:20:53.240 --> 0:20:55.680 that that that came out of that two thousand nine 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:00.840 study using operation that all of a sudden, you're attention 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:04.520 is very much focused and you can complete tasks um 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:10.080 much better or at least remarkably better. Um, then you 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:14.640 could without seeing something cute. So it really does suggest 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:18.760 we have this inborn pathway to respond to something cute 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:23.400 in a pleasurable way with warm feelings. Um, that trigger 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.359 an ability a greater or more focused ability to do 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.200 something like, for example, care for or feed a baby 0:21:30.320 --> 0:21:33.080 or that kind of thing that's that seems to be 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:36.359 borne out like Lawrence's innate release, or seems to be 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:40.360 being discovered um by neurology right now. Which is interesting though, 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:44.359 because caring for a baby is not, in my experience, 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.359 something you need that kind of focus for. It's not 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.639 like putting together a little model house with tiny pieces 0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:54.359 of furniture. Um, it's just like keep this thing alive. Right, 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:57.800 But maybe maybe that's like, um, rather than being like, 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:00.760 oh you know, I think i'll I'd rather break the 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:03.840 law of the law and instead and you just stop 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:06.320 feeding the baby leaves you know what I'm saying, Like 0:22:06.359 --> 0:22:08.920 your your attention to the task at hand. He's a 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.399 little more focused, so you're less distracted. Yeah, that's what 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.840 kind of focus. Sure. Yeah, Luckily it doesn't take much 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:19.600 brains because it's a lot of non smart parents out there. 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.479 That is true. Um So in that response, that speedy 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.679 response in the orbitofrontal cortex when you see that baby, 0:22:27.440 --> 0:22:30.399 men and women both have that same spike. But I 0:22:30.440 --> 0:22:33.879 think women report stronger caregiving, which they chalk up to 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.320 just gender roles basically and not necessarily anything to do 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:40.320 with the brain itself. Yeah, because the same areas light 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:42.800 up for men and women, I guess to the same degree. 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:46.000 It's just self reported as different, right right. And then 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:49.960 apparently also like this, this is not just um parents 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.440 who experienced this, like a human being will or a 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:57.160 typical human being will experience this. Yeah, I mean that's 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:00.520 the thing where like, as an adoptive parent, you know 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:04.560 this is uh, my daughter is not my seed. Um, 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:09.199 but I can't piplical it. Um but I can't like 0:23:09.240 --> 0:23:10.680 I have nothing to base it on. But I can't 0:23:10.720 --> 0:23:14.920 imagine a stronger connection or a stronger instinct to care 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:19.680 give and um so it's a It's an important trait 0:23:19.720 --> 0:23:23.280 clearly because like you've seen movies where uh, people find 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:26.840 like a baby like abandoned by the dumpster and that 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:29.119 you know, you run out and you know, I suppose 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:31.760 some people might just say call it in and say Hey, 0:23:31.760 --> 0:23:33.480 there's a baby over here. I'm not going near it, 0:23:34.119 --> 0:23:36.560 but a humans inclination is to run over and pick 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:39.280 that baby up and wrap it up in something warm 0:23:39.960 --> 0:23:43.320 and then maybe call the cops or whatever. Right, and 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:45.679 like you said, like run over there like that, like 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.439 it an urgent thing that that your brain would just 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:50.760 be like get over there, right, the helpless thing out 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:53.560 there by a dumpster, let's go get it. Yeah. Um, 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:57.720 that apparently would come probably more from um the baby's cry, 0:23:57.840 --> 0:24:01.679 which I guess also a nights like the same kind 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:07.280 of um pathway as cuteness does, but it's a different 0:24:07.359 --> 0:24:10.080 it's slightly different. There's not necessarily a reward. It's more 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:13.800 like urgency. And they call that a biological siren, which 0:24:13.880 --> 0:24:16.359 which would you know, get you over there really quickly, 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:18.960 But it's not necessarily because you saw you know, you 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:20.840