
Viewing Cute Images Narrows Attentional Focus (2012) - laurex
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0046362#pone-0046362-g003
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olivermarks
When I had a high stress corporate job with a lot of internal politics and
back stabbing I used to look at an old site called 'cute overload' while on
conference calls, it was amazing how it would deflect anger and stress looking
at adorable hamsters and kittens

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jchw
Wow, who came up with this hypothesis? If the conclusion is correct, then what
a fascinating connection indeed. It makes you wonder what other subtle effects
cultural norms could have. It also makes me wonder if there has ever been any
research on the cultural stigma of cute images, a topic that I have been
personally perplexed by ever since the stigma went away for me personally.
Still, this should probably be taken with a grain of salt given the
replication crisis.

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kossTKR
Allow me to riff a bit on the pretty interesting question: "why is there
social stigma against cute images":

I think it is either seen as an infantile trait to decorate for example your
apartment with neotenys objects if you are not a young girl or a grandmom - or
seen as a cold or unsophisticated capture of the anima in nature.

In the adult it becomes either a vulgar aesthetic just as decorating with
posters from a porn magazine, a non-ironic poster from an action movie, or
even worse seen as some kind of semi pervese pathology of an adult mind that
lacks the maturity post important developmental rite-de-passages that still
exists in all societies that aren't extremely cushioned both economically and
technologically.

In other words seen as a weakness, not because you have to become a strong-
man, or right-wing or some other primal or ideological fantasy but because it
signals the absurdity of the post-tribal, post-farming society. The level of
anthropomorphization and adult adoration of "cuteness" would make most people
from more than 100 years ago or people of today living closer to earth roll
their eyes because it's a sign of the incredible riches and otherworldly level
of infantilisation only afforded those at the top of the world pyramid.

This is why there is often a direct proportionality between a countries riches
and how much you see indoor pets for example, or how much you see non-symbolic
representations of animals devoid of any mythological significance only to
appear as "cute mammals" without deeper meaning ie. a human perversion of
nature.

Looking at images of "just a cute cat" then becomes stigmatised just as
hardcore porn is taboo while "sophisticated classic erotic paintings" are not,
because they are not seen as zoo-like or are decontextualised in a human
centric and "exploitative" manner.

So obvious "cuteness" is just "too much" from most sophisticated aesthetics
point of view because advanced societies maturation processes all have
discipline, restraint and sophistication, ie. some esotericism as fundamental
building blocks.

A cute image on the wall is then seen as "lower class" or "lower education"
because it lacks the sophistication, cultural context and at the same time
becomes vulgar just as the decontextualised "quote posters" you also often see
in homes without these sensibilities. Instead of showcasing the literature
that leads to the insight you just show the quote, or instead of cultivating
the "Metta" like qualities of motherliness or charitability through travel or
charity or some other serious endeavour rooted in reality you just surround
yourself with "cute" things, - or sexy things or big-strong-man things that
elicit the most basic skinner box like responses from pics of "boob", "tiny
mouse", "big explosion" instead of indulging in more "subtle" and
sophisticated arts, literature and iconography.

Also interesting is the fact that industrial farming is "unholy" in the same
way as "cute-porn". Because it ultimately lacks the respect of the inherent
spirit and sacredness that pre abrahamic religions saw in all living creatures
both plants and animals.

A respect for the cyclical nature of everything or the family where each
entity has it's own god-like importance completely interconnected with local
ecosystem.

"capturing spirits" as some contemporary tribespeople think photographies do
is a good modern translation of this concept - and why it would be seen as
masturbatory or solipsistic to just look at at creature to illicit a calming
response in your brain.

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mikekchar
This is very cultural. The west, and especially North America, is very anti-
cute in general. I think part of it is that traditionally cute was something
that was culturally acceptable for women and girls to enjoy. Men and boys were
supposed to show some disdain for cuteness. As discrimination against women
became a more recognised issue, I think it became less acceptable for women to
enjoy cuteness. To be cute was to invite the discrimination they were fighting
against.

I live in Japan now, where women and girls tend to enjoy cute things. I really
enjoy that aspect of the culture. I wish that instead of women fighting
against the cute stereotype we could allow men to enjoy cuteness. It's
obviously a much more difficult approach to the problem, but to me it seems
much more desirable.

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kossTKR
Japan is an interesting example.

But aren't they the essence of a highly educated society that exactly because
of it's neurotic and academic cutoff from their bodies or the "dionysian"
undergrowth explode in fetichization of sexuality, infantile fantasies and
strict codes of conduct for the forever peter-pan like mind, slaving away as
salary men, getting teenage drunk in the weekends with the boss and then have
no guts to ask the girl of their dreams out because they have lost all of
their mirror neurons to screen culture?

They did this because of escapism from and as a reaction to the extreme
horrors of war so i understand why - but i mean suicides, extremely low
birthrates, and lots of problems with guys that lack social skills doesn't
seem like a healthy society to me - even though i do enjoy both Japan and
their cute iconogrophy so i am somewhat infatuated.

What is very interesting though is that cute-culture flips 180 from being a
simple or infantile in Japan exactly because it shows restraint! Restraint
from the violence that created the horrors of war, so in that light it's
pretty understandable. It's actually sophisticated as a reaction in their
cultural context, but not in the US because they haven't been glassed
involuntarily.

Not that the vapid gung-ho fantasy of the US is much better alternative but it
makes sense as a military superpower and as an extension of settler culture.

In that light Japan is the clever little brother that holds his teddy bear
tightly while the US is the big bully - but both societies have high levels of
infantilization, in the US it's just through mass-media and a culture of
extreme convenience.

Point being that both of these are unhealthy, and a return to living closer to
nature, or biology or whatever, as an antidote to both climate collapse and
bodily neurosis, depression and anxiety will probably also lead to a world
where "cuteness" is just a part of nature, and not an object of fetizhization,
just like the US fetishises guns, or Germany does Industry.

All functions of geopolitical games that create pathologies for whole
societies.

But also ultimately as functions of extreme wealth and a lifestyle where there
is even time or space to fetishise anything beyond "nature".

Then again we are on Hackernews the epitome of an apollonian realm and i am
also in part spawned from the internet. Maybe the antidote is to try to
survive in the woods then travel in third world countries and lastly farm the
land for a few years before returning to internet-world as an antidote to
Technological Society. (that's going to happen)

Will i be able to enjoy cute kittens after that, will they elicit any
dopamine, or will i just club and eat them? I have no idea.

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mikekchar
It's an interesting point of view, but... no... I don't think you are even
close ;-)

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cestith
I wonder if this is some sort of evolutionary caretaker response. We are made
aware of something cute and juvenile and suddenly our attention to certain
stimuli change. So perhaps this is our brains preparing to protect the
juveniles from the environment, triggered by even a digital image.

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jotm
Isn't this the same reaction as when one listens to good music,
reads/views/hears a motivating speech/image/video, etc? An increase in
endorphins and/or dopamine?

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ojosilva
It probably could, but typically studies associate music and precision [1],
not speediness. OP's anchor points to a specific part of the research that
cites speed along motor dexterity as an unexpected result.

Regardless of the similarities/differences, it's still amazing that you could
get similar results from a quick glance at a cute kitten as you would
listening to an entire movement from a classical piece.

[1]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15135879](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15135879)

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jey
Has this finding been replicated since?

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Diederich
Don't know, but this experiment was a replication of a prior study:

"The results replicated and extended the result of Sherman et al. [16] that
viewing cute images has a positive effect on behavioral performance in tasks
that require carefulness."

[http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.335...](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.335.9227&rep=rep1&type=pdf)

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jihadjihad
> For future applications, cute objects may be used as an emotion elicitor to
> induce careful behavioral tendencies in specific situations, such as driving
> and office work.

How in the world is this supposed to work? Projecting pictures of puppies onto
a HUD while driving?

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ramy_d
[https://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Hello-Kitty-Steering-
Wheel/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Carmen-Hello-Kitty-Steering-
Wheel/dp/B07H5LPMMM)

~~~
bitL
Thanks, now I know what my sisters gets from me for Christmas...

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hamilyon2
Wow. Dose response analysis would be great. I am interested in long term
effects too.

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kingludite
Ah yes, now envision the office of the future...

