Sherman Gary D, Haidt Jonathan, Coan James A
Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, USA.
Emotion. 2009 Apr;9(2):282-6. doi: 10.1037/a0014904.
Infantile physical morphology-marked by its "cuteness"-is thought to be a potent elicitor of caregiving, yet little is known about how cuteness may shape immediate behavior. To examine the function of cuteness and its role in caregiving, the authors tested whether perceiving cuteness can enhance behavioral carefulness, which would facilitate caring for a small, delicate child. In 2 experiments, viewing very cute images (puppies and kittens)-as opposed to slightly cute images (dogs and cats)-led to superior performance on a subsequent fine-motor dexterity task (the children's game "Operation"). This suggests that the human sensitivity to those possessing cute features may be an adaptation that facilitates caring for delicate human young.
婴儿的身体形态以其“可爱”为标志，被认为是引发照料行为的有力因素，但对于可爱如何塑造即时行为却知之甚少。为了研究可爱的功能及其在照料中的作用，作者测试了感知可爱是否能增强行为的谨慎程度，这将有助于照料一个幼小、脆弱的孩子。在两项实验中，观看非常可爱的图像（小狗和小猫）——与稍微可爱的图像（狗和猫）相比——在随后的精细运动敏捷性任务（儿童游戏“手术”）中表现更优。这表明人类对具有可爱特征者的敏感度可能是一种适应性表现，有助于照料脆弱的人类幼崽。
