WEBVTT - Why Do We Make Our Monsters Cute?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren bog Obam. Here, if you can think of a

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<v Speaker 1>terrifying monster from popular culture, I can show you a

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<v Speaker 1>version of that monster designed to be cute. From Freddy

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<v Speaker 1>Krueger and Godzilla to Cathulu and Pennywise the Dancing Clown.

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<v Speaker 1>We seem determined to transform our monsters into plushies, cartoon characters,

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<v Speaker 1>and other cuti's. But why let's take a second to

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<v Speaker 1>discuss what monsters and cute's actually are. You can go

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<v Speaker 1>down the rabbit hole on the cognitive origin of monsters,

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<v Speaker 1>but essentially, a monster is an unreal creature that's awesome

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<v Speaker 1>in size or novel in its chimerical combination of natural forms.

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<v Speaker 1>It threatens and terrifies us even as it relates some

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<v Speaker 1>lesson or understanding of the world around us. For instance,

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<v Speaker 1>a werewolf combines human and lupine characteristics, but also relays

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<v Speaker 1>a message about the dual nature of human beings. We

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<v Speaker 1>are both beast and something that aspires to be more.

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<v Speaker 1>Acuteness is easy year to nail down, if only because

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<v Speaker 1>it's so rooted in conditioned responses to human infants. The

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<v Speaker 1>features that we call cute in babies, big eyes, fat

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<v Speaker 1>cheeks are simply the ones that hijack human attention and response.

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<v Speaker 1>After all, the infant is the fruit of our genetic programming.

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<v Speaker 1>We can't help but attend to its needs. This view

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<v Speaker 1>of cuteness falls in line with Charles Darwin's theory that

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<v Speaker 1>natural selection favors creatures that, in infancy possess features that

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<v Speaker 1>cause adults to protect them. Austrian pathologist Conrad Lawrence went

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<v Speaker 1>on to outline these specific triggers involved, including short, thick extremities,

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<v Speaker 1>and clumsy movements in addition to the big eyes and

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<v Speaker 1>chubby cheeks. To what degree does cuteness hijack our senses?

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<v Speaker 1>Though scientists have observed one seventh of a second response

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<v Speaker 1>time and adults to unfamiliar infant faces, but not to

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<v Speaker 1>adult faces. Japanese study found that people who viewed images

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<v Speaker 1>of infant animals performed tasks better than those who viewed

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<v Speaker 1>images of adult animals. In other words, cute stimuli improved

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<v Speaker 1>performance in tasks that require behavioral carefulness. Were simply hardwired

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<v Speaker 1>to become careful guardians when cutei's called to us, and

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<v Speaker 1>that bleeds over into inhuman cute's as well the kittens, puppies,

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<v Speaker 1>and cartoon characters. Maybe those cute kitten posters in the

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<v Speaker 1>office actually serve a purpose after all. At this point,

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<v Speaker 1>it's easy to think of cuteness and monstrosity as separate entities,

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<v Speaker 1>but the two states may exist upon the same spectrum

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<v Speaker 1>of attention grabbing stimuli. Imagine a slider mechanism in a

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<v Speaker 1>program or video game. One direction takes you into the

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<v Speaker 1>realm of disgusting terror, and the other is a one

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<v Speaker 1>way ticket to cute town. Social scientist Maya Jejovska Brechinska

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<v Speaker 1>wrote a paper on this subject, Monstrous Cute Notes on

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<v Speaker 1>the ambivalent nature of cuteness. In it, she argues that

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<v Speaker 1>the cute and the monstrous exist in a single dimension,

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<v Speaker 1>and that there is a tipping point as to how

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<v Speaker 1>far you can push that cute slash monstrous slider. She

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<v Speaker 1>writes that this spectrum quote works inevitably as a sort

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<v Speaker 1>of pendulum, swinging to and fro, and thus being able

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<v Speaker 1>to play its role only up to a certain point,

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<v Speaker 1>where the sweetness becomes a mock and a pitiful or

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<v Speaker 1>ironic ulter ego of itself. In other words, it's possible

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<v Speaker 1>to push cuteness so far that it becomes sickening. If

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<v Speaker 1>we're to push too far in the other direction, arguably

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<v Speaker 1>the monstrous simply becomes ridiculous. Of course, in either case,

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<v Speaker 1>individual thresholds to cute slash monster overload will vary. Monsters

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<v Speaker 1>and cuts may stand at opposing exaggerations on the same

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<v Speaker 1>slider a visual stimuli. But why would we move that

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<v Speaker 1>slider to begin with? In making our monsters cute, we

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<v Speaker 1>diminish the underlying natural or cultural horrors that they entail.

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<v Speaker 1>In making the cute monstrous, we also dilute its brain

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<v Speaker 1>hijacking potency. This might also entail what psychologist Oriented Arragon

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<v Speaker 1>calls a dimorphous expression, in which an overly positive emotion

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<v Speaker 1>produces a negative reaction. If you've ever felt the desire

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<v Speaker 1>to pinch and overly cute into kitten, then you've felt

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<v Speaker 1>this phenomenon firsthand. When cute gets tough to handle, a

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<v Speaker 1>dash of horror balances it out. It would seem we

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<v Speaker 1>create monsters for a variety of reasons, to entertain, to warn,

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<v Speaker 1>or to chastise and thrill. We turn them cute to

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<v Speaker 1>dull their power or repurpose them for commercial gain, But

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<v Speaker 1>the slider can't always run back in the opposite direction.

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<v Speaker 1>We can only rob our monsters of their powers for

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<v Speaker 1>so long. Today's episode was written by Robert Lamb and

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang. To hear more about the monstrosity

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<v Speaker 1>slash cuteness spectrum, look for the episode of that title

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<v Speaker 1>on Robert's podcast Stuff to Blow Your Mind, And, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>for more on this and lots of other topics so

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<v Speaker 1>sweet you could eat them up, visit our home planet,

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<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Works dot com.