Author | The heart is a lonely hunter
Source | Kyoshi Psychology University Hall
"Poggie, be the greatest king of the world!"
Ranking of Kings continues to be a hit, and Prince Poggie is also working the way to become a great king. Whenever Prince Poggie's soft and sticky face appeared on the screen, it always made my aunt's heart flood.
Prince Boggy's first appearance in Ranking of Kings is this: the young Poggie weeps sadly in front of his mother because he has been wronged by being bullied, and the mother comforts Prince Poggie that he is a strong child who can overcome many unpleasant things and then become the greatest king in the world.
Seeing Prince Boji crying with tears in his eyes, do you want to dry his tears for him in front of the screen, and then rub a Rua on his little face?
After all, who wouldn't love a Prince Bogy with a cute attribute buff bonus?
01
Cute Aggression: Finally, I'm going to do something to cuteness
Cute aggression is a superficially aggressive behavior caused by seeing something cute, such as a human baby or a small animal.[1-3]
People who have the urge to be cute and aggressive will grit their teeth and clench their fists when they see something they think is cute, and have an idea of biting, pinching, and squeezing—but it's just an idea, not really intended to cause harm.
A 2013 study by two psychology researchers at Yale University revealed how cute things can show us the aggressive side [4].
The researchers showed 109 participants pictures of cute, funny, or neutral animals and babies, and then asked them to rate their behavior and assess how out of control they were, such as "I'm going to be killed!" I couldn't stand it anymore and thought Rua! ”。
The researchers refer to this phenomenon as cute aggression and consider it a highly positive emotional interaction, a normal emotional catharsis and instinctive response.
To show that people's responses don't stop at language, the researchers conducted further experiments. Participants in the experiment not only looked at the pictures, but also provided them with a plastic bubble film to fulfill their desire to knead and squeeze cute animals and babies.
It was found that participants squeezed through bubble membranes significantly more often than in funny and normal pictures when viewing cute pictures. That said, Boji's aunt fans don't just talk about it, but really want to do Rua him!
In fact, we can often observe cute aggression in our daily lives, such as people like to rub cute teddy bear dolls hard, and when they see beautiful children, they can't help but want to pinch their small faces and pat their butts.
This tendency to show aggression and aggression towards what they think is very cute is fundamentally different from people's aggressive aggression when they are angry, and its essence is that the stimulation brought by cute things makes people lose control of their emotions, which leads to the emergence of aggressive behavior.
Let's take a look at those expressions of cute aggression across cultures[1]:
For example, in Filipino, the word "gigil" refers to "the urge to clench your teeth and want to pinch or squeeze something too cute to be bearable." ”
In Indonesian, the word "gemas" refers to a feeling that occurs when you see a cute object that causes you to grit your teeth or want to pinch it.
In some Latin American countries, such as Guatemala, it is called "the thing". For example, "That cat gives me the thing", followed by a clenched teeth, a pleasant nibbling action.
02
Why do you have the urge to pinch when you see something cute?
Why do many people see cute animals and babies and say, "Cute is dead, I want to pinch!" "So cute, can I rub it?" "I really want to take a bite!" , and facial expressions such as limb movements accompanied by tight muscles and clenched teeth[4]?
Researchers on the Cute Aggression Experiment believe that there are two possibilities:
1. Overlap of processed information at the nerve level
When you see something cute, the brain activates the reward system, releasing large amounts of dopamine into the cerebral cortex, making people feel excited and happy. Interestingly, the same neural pathways are also activated by aggression, which prompts us to act aggressively.
Cute things inspire people's desire to protect, and when this emotion cannot be well vented, the frustration that follows triggers people's desire to invade and act aggressively.
Therefore, when people see cute things, they instinctively want to protect them, but due to the limitations of the situation, they cannot immediately embrace them or pat them, so people feel frustrated and can only express their emotions with aggressive behavior.[5]
2. Two-state expression
What is a two-state expression? That is, under the trigger of positive emotions, there will not only be prosocial positive behaviors, but also certain negative behaviors.
The researchers asked participants to evaluate the photos of babies used in all of the experiments, some of which were indeed cuter, with fuller cheeks and larger eyes. The participants showed more concern for the babies and were more likely to care for and protect them.
But at the same time, participants also had more aggression against the babies, reporting wanting to pinch, bite or eat the babies' faces. What's more, it does seem like an effective mood regulation strategy, with those who had a higher desire to invade by looking at baby photos also showed more decline in positive emotions after 5 minutes of watching the photos.
The researchers believe that the negative behavior in this distate expression triggered by cute stimuli actually regulates excessive positive emotions, allowing people to better complete the task of caring for these babies and small animals.
In summary, cute aggression is a protective mechanism, a way for the brain to try to alleviate or vent extreme happiness [4].
So, the next time you watch Ranking of Kings, if you still want to pinch the face of the cute Prince Boji, you don't need to feel guilty, just don't let Rua get too hard.
The only thing to blame is that Poggie is so cute!
bibliography:
[1] https://en.jinzhao.wiki/wiki/Cute_aggression#cite_note-Aragon2015-2
[2] Aragón, Clark, M. S., Dyer, R. L., & Bargh, J. A. (2015). Dimorphous Expressions of Positive Emotion: Displays of Both Care and Aggression in Response to Cute Stimuli. Psychological Science, 26(3), 259–273.
[3] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/12/31/679832549/when-too-cute-is-too-much-the-brain-can-get-aggressive
Zhan Siyu, Liu Xiancui. (2016). The Negative Effects of Extreme Positive Emotions: Negative Social Behaviors Caused by Positive Emotions. Technology and Enterprise, (6), 13+15.
[5] This issue. Why see cute animals have the urge to pinch. Invention and Innovation (Middle School Students), 2021(1):62.
(This article is original by the Beijing Normal University of Psychology, welcome to forward to the circle of friends, if you need to reprint, please contact the background, with the consent of the author can only be reprinted)