have you ever seen puppy Have you experienced an irresistible urge to hit or crush him? If the answer is no, good for you. If so, then you’re actually not as weird as you think. Actually, this thought so widespread that it has been widely studied by science under the name “cute aggressionor, in Spanish, “cute aggression“.
It is supposed that this strong feeling arises in some people when they look at a very adorable image, from a puppy to an infant. They may get scared as their mind draws something very different from what you want. They don’t really want to hurt you, but your mind visualizes the desire.
This is what is known as dimorphic expression and, in fact, it looks like a knockout of the brain so that we don’t have candy overdose. In other words, charming images awaken our reward systems, just like sex, chocolate or drugs do. And in some people they do it with such force that the result can be excessive. For this reason, according to research done to date, it seems that the brain responds with unpleasant imageto stop this excessive feeling. The result can be daunting, but it’s really important to remember that we are what we do, not what we think. That’s the difference.
Sweet aggression is not a feature of psychopaths
In fact, cute aggression is such a common concept that in some languages only one word is used for it. For example, as reported in IFLSciencethere is a term in Tagalog flexiblewhat speaks of unstoppable desire compress something nice. It can also mean wanting to pinch, bite or hit him.
But this desire does not go to the majors. At best, a person can pinch an adorable child on the cheek, but nothing more. What happens then?
To answer this question, a study was conducted in 2018 in which a group of volunteers had to observe 100 images of animals and people. Some have been changed to make them less charming. In others, however, this effect was enhanced by the addition of factors such as dimples or large eyes.
Not all volunteers reacted the same way. However, some of them admitted that they experienced cute aggression thoughts. They all passed the test brain electrophysiology, who were more active when looking at adorable photos. But the most interesting thing was watching the areas that had this most activity, especially when they experienced cute aggression.
On the one hand, first areas associated with emotions. Logical. But later other regions connected with reward systems did it. That is, images that evoke cute aggression were almost a drug for them. Also very powerful.
more sentimental people
These results led us to believe that cute aggression is actually a form of cut off overreaction reward systems. And the fact is that an overly positive emotion can cause negative impulses in the brain. For this reason, very sentimental people need this emergency brake.
This can occur through thoughts of aggression, but also with a figurative sensation of pain. That’s why usually when you see a charming image, wrinkle your face as if you are pouting or crying a little. Socially, we see this as a positive symbol; but if we stick to the literal, they are actually manifestations of pain. This is especially true for very sentimental people. For example, in those who cry for joy.
After all, cute aggression is not necessarily a bad thing. As long as it remains only a thought. If it wasn’t for that, we’d be talking about something else, of course.
Source: Hiper Textual
