What makes infants seem so "cute" to us?

I hope this quallifies, in this Forum, as a viable topic....please move it, if I've chosen incorrectly...

"What Makes Infants Seem so 'cute' to us?"


I can understand, from an evolutionary sense, WHY we recognize our own offspring, as infants, as "cute", and wish to 'protect' them.....this is obvious, to me, because of the vulnerability of our Human infants, when compared to 'infants' of other species.

What, do you think causes that "Ahhhhhhh" moment, in our brains, when we see a puppy, or kitten, or bunny....or even a baby turtle, a foal, you name the animal, we (sometimes) have that visceral response....regardless of species, but WHEN it's an infantile version of any animal (well, MOST land animals that we tend to be most familiar with, anyway....)

Is it the disproportionate size of the eyes, relative to the body, in infants???

Have you ever noticed how dogs, cats, simians....just to name three species, will LOOK AT YOU IN THE EYES???

Anyone have thoughts to share?

I hope other animal lovers will respond......and have stories to tell.

Infants represent hope. How can we not react happily. Unless someone is socially maladjusted.

Originally posted by concernedcitizan
Infants represent hope. How can we not react happily. Unless someone is socially maladjusted.

I agree... and innocent of crime and bad thought.

Hope is the right term though

reply to post by concernedcitizan

Infants represent hope.

What a beautiful sentiment!!!

Thank You!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND, thanks to Mr-lizard too, don't want to leave you out....

[edit on 23 February 2010 by weedwhacker]

If you had any biology in High School or College you should know the answer. You are close, large eyes are part of it. The relative proportions of all progeny of animals that provide care for their young are pretty much the same. Large heads and eyes, shorter limbs, small genitalia are all notable features of the young of these animals.

Babies are so small and squishy.

Except I was 13 lbs. 3oz. And 22 inches... That's a different story.

Well they are tiny people! that's cute!

But maybe it's because they can look at us without judgement or resent or anything other then that amazed-bug eyed look little babies get. They are just happy to sit and look around and learn, so much innocence.

I know my kid's first sentence is going to be 'mum, get that camera out of my face!' ;p

Basically, like someone else said above, they represent hope, and they remind us that beautiful things can come out of this world, no matter how shi**y things might seem.

I think it's tied to procreation.

I read that men like big breasts and hips because it's a symbol of being able to birth and feed many children.
Women like athletic men because they will `provide' (hunt well)

What's kinda funny about this is that I don't like babies and I'm perfectly fine with *any* breasts, provided they are in multiples of two.

I am a sucker for a puppy though.

Infants give off incredible energy as they are still new to physicality in physical sense. I know some people who can't touch a baby most likely for the reason the person that would hold the baby has disconnected from said energy and feels deeply pained of the reminder. And babies are so darn cute!

I never saw babies as cute. They are wrinkled, bald, noisy, always spewing out of both ends. It took time for me to get close to my niece and nephew. Even now children (other than my brother's children) give me migraines.

I know that may sound heartless to some but, it is the truth. My brother's children eventually grew on me and opened up maternal instinct that I didn't have originally. Friends are always showing baby pictures and they all look like wrinkled latex and generally appear about the same except skin tones, eye color etc.

No offense to anyone or their children.

reply to post by rleexray

If you had any biology in High School or College you should know the answer.

yeah, I know.....

I was visiting a friend, recently, with a Yellow Lab (female) who is about 15 months old....

First of all, she and I bonded immediately!!!!

Guess because I'd play 'fetch' with her, and her "Daddy" didn't have the time. But, when she'd come to me, and jump on the bed to sleep....or, during the day, still....those moments we could lock eyes....and I wondered what she was thinking, as we stared at each other, in the eyes......

I'm ALPHA, based on her presenting her belly....so she knows her place, in the "pack".....

I had plenty of time to observe her anatomy.....and it is obvious to me how SIMILAR the anatomy of dogs, apes, and Humans is. MOST mammals, I suppose.

Hate to be too blunt, but.....we Humans have a place where we excrete solid waste, and when you look at a Human skeleton, you see that at the bottom of our vertebrae is the 'coccyx' bone, which looks like a vestigal tail. EXACTLY where a dog's (or cat's, or most mammal's) tail is, right above the anus.

Further, in a female dog, the vagina is most evident, and is situated just below the anus, much the same as in Humans. (Same with male dogs, too, and equivalent to male Humans)

In fact, this arrangement is mostly common to all mammals....only minor variations, in position and distance.

AGAIN, sorry to be so blunt....but anyone who has a brain (or has worked on a farm, or owned a pet, and cared to pay attention, without the bias of some sort of religiously-based 'look-away' problem) has certainly seen this, as I describe it.

The bilogical arrangement of the excratory organs, and sex organs, vary only slightly, in most mammalian forms.

The INTERNAL organs dictate this, of course.....

OK....so, HOW DOES TIHS RELATE???

We, you and I who are reading this, are mammals...more specifically, we are relatedto simians, but at the very basest of basics, we are ALSO related to all mammals....

Seeing a cute infant mammal STILL pulls our (most of us, at least) heartstrings....even IF IT IS NOT our own species...!!!!

Fascinating, isn't it????

I guess it's how we see everything, as something that could make a difference. There are probably a few reasons.

First off we pity it, because of how helpless it is so the natural emotion is to pity it, but we also realize we were once like it and our selfish attitude chooses to see how it shouldn't be pitied but just comforted until it grows up.

That and if it's a healthy baby, we will see it as cute just how a girl sees a guy with more muscle and less fat more attractive than a man with less fat. It just represents being strong healthy, and more worthy of our attention and what we want.

If the baby is born with a problem, like a disease or facial problem, then obviously it represents being less healthy, and just like the people we find attractive we will tend to pity it more than comfort it and find it cute.

I agree that from the human perspective, those traits (big eyes, little nose, little mouth, flawless skin) show innocence, and we may be drawn to that.

From a species' evolutionary standpoint, perhaps these traits are universal ideas of cuteness so that other species will hopefully take pause when trying to kill/eat their young. Notice how the cuter a species' babies, the more helpless they are. In this case, cuteness may be its last resort defence.

It's a defense mechanism.

They appear so cute so that we won't toss them out in the middle of the night after they refuse to go to sleep.

At least that is what friends of mine told me and they are parents of two.

LOL Cool Hand! I was just thinking about what my mom once told me. "Kids are so darn cute so that we don't drown them at birth". I must have been one heck of a handful for her!

I wasn't fond of babies until I had my own. Now I can't pass up a newborn without wishing I still had one. So my vote is, babies are cute so that you don't remember the sleepless nights - otherwise you'd never have more than one kid.

"Mumma!"

"Yes?"

"Mumma!"

"Yes?"

"MuMMA!"

"Yes?"

"MUMMMAHH!"

"YES?!"

"Mumma!"

"Yes Rora?"

"Mumma!"

"What can I do for you Rora?"

"Mum. Ah! MUMMA!"

... "WHAT????!!!"

*holds up empty bottle and grins* "Peeese babah!"




defense mechanism.

If not, I would have eaten my young.

They are so cute because they haven't been corrupted by the world yet. They represent innocence and purity, and they are just so cute! come on! Puppies make me melt. THEY ARE SO ADORABLE!

I believe part of it has to do with something biological within us that provokes this response from most of us.

reply to post by COOL HAND


I agree, definitely a defense mechanism.

A lot of times it doesn't work. That is why we have TV ads here saying never shake a baby (even though it is driving you mad) - sadly, this doesn't work a lot either.

They have to be cute.. Coz at 3am in the morning.. After having 3 kids close together... All of them going through the terrible twos at the same time, and having no sleep for four years... They had better be bloody cute!!! LOL

reply to post by weedwhacker


Dan Dennet gave a TEDTalk last year on this subject, or rather - that included this subject. It puts a different spin on the concept by re-prioritizing what is the cause and what is the adaptation to in this phenomena. For instance, we don't find infants cute because we are attracted to a hardwired standard of established traits found in infants. We are attracted to the way OUR infants look, and it just so happens that some of these traits are common in other infant animals. If our infants were born without those similar traits found in other animal infants, we wouldn't abandon our young... we'd merely cease to find baby animals cute. So the reason we find baby ducks and baby rabbits cute is more akin to pareidolia - since we're seeing common features of our infants in non-human infants.

It may not quite be clear in regards to infants, but when the example of sexual attraction comes up, it's pretty obvious.



As well as a few papers I ran across in regards or relation to fMRI neural imaging of activity correlated to varying situations involving Maternal Response.

Adult Attachment Predicts Maternal Brain and Oxytocin Response to Infant CuesAttachment and neuroendocrine response to infant cues

The neural basis of maternal responsiveness to infants: an fMRI study

Baby schema modulates the brain reward system in nulliparous women

Admittedly, the entire process is not well understood. I suppose a portion of the answer can be summed up rather cynically as: "Your brain has wired itself so that it administers dopamine reward stimulus as a means to dissuade you from killing or neglecting your child". That's a bit of a downer on the ole warm fuzzy feeling isn't it?