Why We Want to Squeeze Cute Things | Smartest Year Ever (July 26, 2025)

Why do we get the bizarre urge to squeeze, pinch, or even say “I could eat you up!” when we see something adorable?

In this Smartest Year Ever episode, Gordy explores the science behind cute aggression, a strange emotional reflex that kicks in when your brain short-circuits on cuteness overload. From baby animals to chubby cheeks, we’ll look at how our brains use opposite emotional outputs—like aggression in response to joy—to stay balanced.

You'll also hear about:

• The psychology of dimorphous emotional expression
  

• How fMRI and EEG studies reveal activity in reward and motor control centers
  

• The concept of baby schema and our hardwired attraction to cuteness
  

• Global phrases that show this cross-cultural phenomenon, from Tagalog to Spanish
  

Whether you’ve clenched your fists at a puppy or gritted your teeth at a toddler’s smile, your brain is just doing what it evolved to do. It’s not weird. It’s wired.

Sources:

• Aragón, O. R., 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. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614561044
  

• Stavropoulos, K. K., & Alba, B. M. (2018). Neural responses to cuteness in parents and non-parents: An fMRI study of baby schema. Social Neuroscience, 13(6), 633–644.
  

• Lorenz, K. (1943). Die angeborenen Formen möglicher Erfahrung [The innate forms of possible experience]. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 5(2), 235–409.
  

• Sherman, G. D., & Haidt, J. (2011). Cuteness and Disgust: The Humanizing and Dehumanizing Effects of Emotion. Emotion Review, 3(3), 245–251. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073911402396
  

#CuteAggression #BrainScience #PsychologyFacts #DailyFacts #DidYouKnow #neuroscience #brainfacts #weirdpsychology Music thanks to Zapsplat.