Instant Genius - Why we find cuteness so appealing

Episode Date: November 13, 2023

Why do so many of us find babies, kittens and puppies so cute? How did the now-widespread Japanese notion of kawaii end up transcending cultural boundaries? And can cute things help us with our mental health? To answer these questions and more, we catch up with Joshua Paul Dale, a professor of American literature and culture based at Chuo University in Tokyo. He tells us all about his pioneering work in the field of cute studies and his new book Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hello and welcome to Instant Genius, bite-sized masterclass in podcast form. I'm Jason Goodyear, commissioning editor at BBC Science Focus magazine. Why do so many of us find babies, kittens and puppies so cute? How did the now widespread Japanese notion of kawaii end up transcending cultural boundaries? And can cute things actually help us with our mental health? To answer these questions and more, we catch up with Josh. Paul Dale, a professor of American literature and culture based at Cho University in Tokyo.

He tells us all about his pioneering work in the field of cute studies and his new book, Irresistible, How Cuteness Wired Our Brains and Concord the World. You're studying something called cuteness. It's a very unusual thing to study. I think the best place to start here is, how on earth did you get into this? Ah, yes. Well, I had been living in Japan for quite a lot of, a while. And so I knew that kawai things, cute things, were kind of everywhere here, but it was one day when I walked outside, and I saw some road construction barriers, you know, the orange cones and orange and white bars. And that day, they had been replaced by a line of hello kitties holding

rainbows. And it wasn't just the hello kitties. I started to notice more. They were green frogs and there were pink rabbits. These things were just showing up everywhere, not just Tokyo, but all over Japan. And that really made me wonder, like, what's going on? So I started to read and study as academics do. And I found that although there had been some things written about cuteness in Japan and a little bit more in English, very limited in English, basically very few people had studied it, which seemed really strange. So that's why I got interested. So you mentioned that the difference culturally, which is something that I'd like to get into in a moment. But in the book, you mentioned the kind of interesting etymology of the word cute itself.

The word cute in English comes from acute, meaning cunning or sharp, like an acute angle. And for a long time, when you called someone cute, you only called an adult fat. And what you meant was they were not only clever, but maybe a little bit too clever, like somebody who might want to cheat you. It didn't change until the 19th century, mid to late 19th century, slowly the word cute began to refer to things that were more adorable. Maybe animals first, possibly, and then small children finally. Then at the beginning of the 20th century, there was just a huge boom and cuteness in popular culture. So let's dig into that a little deeper then. What makes something cute?

What do we know about that? So when I started to think about what makes something cute, I realized that the people in my field in the humanities who are studying art history or cuteness in literature or cuteness in visual culture didn't really have a common definition. And this is a red flag if you're an academic because you want to know what you're talking about. So I had to turn to the sciences. And I found that in psychology and biology, there had been quite a bit of research on cuteness in the last 70 years. and they did have a definition, which has been demonstrated over time over dozens of studies, to largely hold true. Maybe not for everyone at all times, but it's fairly accurate.

What exactly makes something cute, then? What are the characteristics? The scientists call it the child schema. So basically, this is a large head relative to body size, kind of predominance of the brain capsule, meaning like a large forehead, and large and low-lying eyes, bulging cheeks, short and thick extremities like short arms and legs, and a soft body surface with a springy elastic consistency,

and finally clumsy, wobbly movements. Why do we find small things cute? Our cuteness response is triggered by small things that need care, but also attention and socialization. So babies are cute and it makes us not only want to take care of them, but also to play with them, to kind of help them join the human community by teaching them skills like communication and cooperation.

Do we know about how our attitude towards cuteness has changed over time? Yeah, this is a really interesting question because if cuteness is really part of our biology and it accompanied our evolution as homo sapiens, then you would expect it to always be around in culture. But relatively speaking, it's not. Like where I am now in Japan, cuteness is just everywhere. And it's kind of growing outside Japan too. But if you go back outside Japan particularly 150 years, 200 years, 300 years ago, that's hardly anywhere.

So what happened? Why does it show up in some places more than others and in some times more than other times? That's what really got me fascinated with this subject. So one of the questions I've run into is a kind of chicken versus the A question. So which came first in human evolution? Acute appearance or the emotional response to cuteness. So if the chicken came first, then cuteness was adaptive and babies slowly grew cuter over time

because the cuter ones were likely to receive more care and thus would survive. But in this case, adults must have already had a preference for cuteness, which is the egg in this metaphor. And if the egg came first, then we somehow developed the emotional reality, to appreciate cuteness even before babies became cute. But how could that have happened?

And I think the key is behavior. I think that we had an emotional reaction to something else that became cuteness. And it's possible, this has not been proven yet, but I think that a preference for friendliness was the key. I think that long ago in our evolutionary past, individuals who are more friendly and tolerant and kind, mated with each other because they preferred people like that, and they had offspring that gradually became cute.

And that prompted the ability to feel cuteness, the appreciation of this new look that children had. We can see this happening in an experiment that tried and succeeded in domesticating foxes. For decades, the researchers chose only the friendliest foxes to breathe the next generation. And as they became tamer, the fox's appearance changed. Their faces became wider. their teeth and legs got smaller, and sometimes their tails even became curly. And I've met a few of these foxes, and it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had,

because they are fully domesticated now, a new domesticated animal. So what I'm suggesting here is that maybe humans might also be domesticated, like dogs and cats. And this theory has not been proven, and the research is ongoing. But if it's true, then as we became tamer and friendlier, we started to become cute. And since acute appearance signaled these desirable behavioral traits, our emotional response to cuteness intensified. So our cuteness response peaks when babies are around five or six months old. And I think that as we evolved into Homo sapiens and babies took longer to develop and socializing

them became more important, our cuteness response became stronger so that it peaked when it was most needed. So I think that we, as a species, selected for. for friendly and sociable individuals. And that made us become cuter. And then cuteness became adaptive, like a preference for cute babies. And from there, it became runaway selection.

And we became what we are today. So what do we know about how animals view cuteness? Very little, because we cannot ask them. But it is possible. Apes, for example, are fascinated by babies, baby apes. And some biologists think that this means that apes have the neural substrate for feeling cuteness. But there's a big difference between apes and humans

because apes show much more attraction to newborns. But with us, it's different. Many studies have shown that human babies are cutest at between five and six months of age, and for several years after that. It may be that animals like apes feel some degree of cuteness, but the feeling is more developed in humans because it really kicks in when children are mature enough

to form connections with others and to learn social skills. So as we're a science brand, let's dig into this a little bit more. So what can we say about what happens in our brains when we have, can you call it a cuteness response, something like that? When we see something that we feel as cute, it stimulates the pleasure centers in our brains, and it creates a kind of positive feedback loop. We feel something as cute, and then we anticipate more rewarding experiences, and so the feeling intensifies. It also has influences on our behavior like cuteness can, or studies show that cuteness can relieve stress,

making more social, can heighten empathy and compassion, increase motivation, and even improve physical and mental performance in some ways. That's really interesting. So how do we study this with MRI studies, for example? Yeah, so scientists have put people in MRI machines and measured the brain on cute and found that it stimulates the pleasure sensors of the brain and kind of acts as a form of cognitive priming in that it gets your brain ready to start doing these behavioral things

that are involved with paying care and attention to something. But it doesn't trigger the behavior right away. Like there's a kind of process that scientists call cognitive appraisal. So first, cute things get your attention really fast within one seventh of a second. That's what the MRI study showed. And then after that, you kind of have a little bit of time to sort of appraise what's going on and think about it. And then the reaction comes, a feeling comes, and you start behaving in a positive,

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I think this is a really important point, because parents will take care of children anyway, but what about children that aren't yours? Cuteness makes us feel empathy and compassion, even for children who are not carrying our genes. And I think the reason is that if we feel a child as cute, then it makes us, want to make that child become part of the overall human family. And broadly extended, that includes like kittens and puppies as well. It makes us want to get closer to things, to form a connection with them, and to play with them, socialize them in the case of humans. So let's shift gears a little bit here then. So as you said, you live in Tokyo and the notion of cute or kawai is very

prevalent in Japanese culture. So for those who don't know, what is kawai and what does it mean? Yeah, I can tell by the way that you say kawai that you've lived in Japan. Your pronunciation is really good. Oh, thank you. Kawai is basically the meaning is cute, but it does have a kind of wider application in Japan. And I think that's just because it just shows up everywhere and people say it all the time. Some people say that kawai is the most often used word in the Japanese language. There's no like empirical evidence to back that up, but a couple of people have written that. And one reason is that Kauai, to say that something is cute, it's a kind of communication that forms a kind of social lubrication, like it makes it easier to get along

with everyone. Because it's not really something that you can object to or complain about. It's a sort of positive thing you can say about cute things and cute animals and cute clothes and things like that. So when people say, oh, kawaii, then other people around them tend to agree with them. And that kind of smooths the communication, which is very important in Japanese culture. So what are some of the big examples? Like you mentioned Hello Kitty, but they have them, like Rilakuma or Goudetama, many different characters. What is it about those sort of cartoon characters? Well, there are many famous kawai or cute characters in Japan. Everyone knows Hello Kitty, but there is also Gretama,

which is a lazy egg character that's very popular. And the reason is that the designers have wrapped these other characteristics in a veil of cuteness, and that makes it more interesting for people. So cuteness is not associated with laziness, for example. But if you make a raw egg that looks very cute and is also really lazy, it gives people a kind of license to admit that maybe they're a little bit lazy in their own lives as well, or at least that they want to be and maybe feel like they can't be.

So it kind of helps to relieve their stress. That's a big reason for cuteness in Japan. What sort of role does consumer culture play? Consumer culture plays a role in cuteness around the world because companies want to make a profit and cute things, if they can get the formula right and trigger our cuteness response, people will buy it. So that is one major aspect. I mean, cuteness in general is like a multi-billion dollar industry around the world, certainly. In Japan, it works in other ways as well.

Like many, many hundreds and hundreds of local areas have their own cute mascot. And they almost always have like a three-dimensional suit that people can climb into, kind of like if you go to Disneyland and see Mickey Mouse. Every local town in Japan is their own mascot. They are also almost always cute, but they reflect. the local identity. So they're made up of things that are famous to that local area. And people really enjoy it.

Do you think that's important, like that local identity? I think that's really interesting. So they have like a certain area, will have a certain, for example, vegetable. And the character will be that vegetable. Exactly. So if a local town is famous for its radishes, then it will make a little radished character. And they usually make these by having a contest. So they're designed by amateurs.

People just draw the design and then they mail in the application. Then a board or the local government or like a panel of people that they've got will decide the winner. And then it becomes the mascot of the local area and people all over Japan can appreciate it. So how do you think this is, you mentioned Mickey Mouse there, which I think is interesting because obviously Mickey Mouse is American. But we have like the Kawai idea in Japan culture. But do you think this idea is universal? I definitely think that cuteness is a universal human response in the sense that we all have the potential to feel that things are cute. Now, some people are just not into cuteness.

Usually I just go with their trafecto, you know, babies, kittens, puppies. Most people will think at least one of those is cute. So as far as we know, cuteness is a biological universal that evolved because children need care and so. I think a lot of people listen to this will be interested in, you know, how do you study this? What does your day-to-day look like? Yeah, the reason that I love doing cute studies is because it's so incredibly varied. You can look at cuteness in so many different fields, from brain science to art history. And usually you cannot combine those things very well.

One of the reasons is that there are so few universal human responses. I mean, we all eat and we all sleep. So you can study food in many cultures, or you can study how people sleep. Of course people can do that. But cuteness shows up in so many different areas and fields and places and times. I feel like I'll never get to the bottom of it. And that's the feeling that every academic wants.

You mentioned earlier that there are some positive uses of cuteness that we can have, you know, for mental health or similar things. Can you explain that a little bit? Well, because cuteness increases empathy and compassion and can lower stress, then it can be potentially useful to help people manage their stress. For example, there have been several studies that have shown that people are more willing to do something like fill out a survey or sign a petition or just offer to help other people if a live puppy or even just a cute picture accompanies the request. What do you think the future of cuteness is? Do you think anything

going to change? Oh, yes. I think the future of cuteness as robotics and AI combined. And there are a couple of reasons for this. One thing I live in Japan, and Japan is working on cute robots like you would not believe. One example is Sony's Ibo, the robot dog. I'm not sure how well it's going to connect with people around the world. I mean, people in Japan look at an Ibo, a robot dog, and they see it as kind of like a Mickey Mouse, or a Hello Kitty. It's like a character. Whereas people outside Japan will look at it and see a dog that makes funny noises when it moves because of all the motors, all the servo motors. So that's one thing is that people have to get used to it. Another thing is that if something is cute, we tend to forgive it a little bit more if it makes a mistake

because we associate cuteness with youth and immaturity. This is why I think AI can enter the picture. So now if you have an AI digital assistant or something, you expect it to pretty much be perfect. And if it's not, then something's wrong with it. But if an AI is, for example, built into a cute robot body, if it makes a mistake, then maybe you'll just kind of relax a little bit and think, oh, it's still just learning. So that's why I think that the future of cuteness is robotics and AI combined. Thank you for listening to this episode of Instant Genius brought you from the team behind BBC Science Focus. That was Professor of American Literature and Culture, Joshua Paul Bale. To read more about the science of cuteness, pick up a copy of his book, Irresistible, How Cuteness Wired Our Brains

and Conquered the World. The current issue of BBC Science Focus magazine is out now. Pick up a copy wherever you buy your favourite magazines or download us on your preferred app store. You can also find us online at sciencefocus.com. This podcast is sponsored by name, audio and focal. The texture and emotional depth of music can be lost through digital sources or poor signal. Name Audio believes you can have digital precision with analog warmth. Alongside French acoustic specialist vocal, Name creates high-end audio systems, combining innovation with craftsmanship, so you can listen to music, just as the artist intended.

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