Why do you want to squeeze cute things? - Joshua Paul Dale

Explore the psychology of the phenomenon known as cute aggression, which is the urge to squeeze, bite or pinch something cute.

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Watching a kitten fumbling around, it might feel as if you’ve never encountered anything so devastatingly adorable in your mortal life. You may want to pet its soft fur and kiss its tiny head. But you may also feel the conflicting urge… to squeeze or smush the kitten, maybe even stuff it in your mouth. What is this peculiar phenomenon? Joshua Paul Dale explores the urge known as cute aggression.

Lesson by Joshua Paul Dale, directed by Oksana Kurmaz.

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[Owl]

Can confirm cuteness overload is a real thing.

[orukusaki]

As a great philosopher once said
" *SQUISH THAT CAT* "

[kannot]

I will never get over someone saying “squirrel's are just rats with pretty privilege” 😂😂😂

[soltersortna]

I’ve struggled with post partum depression and having intrusive thoughts of harming my baby. I’ve come to terms with it thanks to realizing that it will never lead to actual harm. The best way I’ve heard it explained is that the brain is thinking of worst case scenarios so you can avoid those. When you think about throwing a baby down the stairs, you take a step away from the stairs. Your brain just doesn’t care how bad the thoughts make you feel. When I stopped thinking my brain was terrible for thinking those things and started thinking it was trying to protect us, it helped me a lot! So I’m glad this video explains yet another terrible thing our brain does, and yet we shouldn’t feel terrible about.

[oliviadavis]

When my sister was born, I thought she was just the darn cutest baby on the planet. I always wanted to just squeeze her as hard as I could, which was funny because I don't normally want to squeeze cute things. She was an adorable baby, to be fair.

[happytriplee]

Dude. The animation is cute overload. I nearly bit my phone in half. I love it!

[ApLzTheArtist]

“It’s so fluffy, I’m gonna die!”
Great choice 😂

[maytatlongpangalan]

There is actually a single term for cute aggression - it's "gigil" in Tagalog (Philippine language)! This is a cute video explaining the science behind it, thank you TED-Ed! 🥰

[l.n.]

For whatever reason, I find baby animals cuter than human babies. Puppies, kittens, etc. But not just mammals either; baby birds and reptiles are cute too.

[lesterabastillas]

i dont care if i die of rabies but its my lifes mission to make all dogs and cats know theyre loved, even by a complete stranger

[goldfish]

I remember seeing a litter of kittens and they handed me one to hold. If you know anything about barely able to walk kittens they are TINY. It was this ball of warmth and fuzz in my hands, and all of a sudden i could feel its heartbeat on my palm. Its tiny lil baby kitty heart pounding away in my hands. "if i squish this kitten too hard it would literally die" i got too scared of the intrusive thought and handed the kitten back to the friends who'd owned them. Cute aggression is almost more overwhelming than the cuteness itself

[aidenx]

My sister came up with a theory that cute aggression evolved out of the need to protect cute things (our babies) from situational predators.

[Pibola]

2:10 Has anyone ever made a dystopian-esque fiction, where instead of grey and drab surroundings that are synonymous with oppression, the world was full of cuteness and colourful things as a means of controlling the people? Considering how just in the previous scene it was explained how cute things make us prefer those things or actions, I can see some writing potential in the concept.

[brett]

You love the cute thing so much, you want to merge with it. Squeezing feels like it makes merging possible,

[chill]

I thought that cute aggression was also rooted in the feeling that you don't want any harm coming to whatever thing is cute. So then your body enters an irrational mindset where you rather not see any harm come to it so much to the point that YOU'd rather be the one that does it and is in control.

[MGProductions]

I've felt cute aggression many a time.

[dangerouscolors]

fun fact: we have a word for cute aggression in tagalog. its called "gigil"! i believe it was even added to the oxford english dictionary as a loanword at some point

[Msing]

In Indonesian, we have this word 'gemas' which describes this mushy feelings when you see something so cute, mostly you want to squeeze or pinch it 🥰

[LaMerleNoir]

The whole thing about people using recycling bins more if they have something cute on them immediately made me realize that’s why Japan is perceived as being so nice and such a great place to live. Everything there is cute basically

[Thebreakdownshow]

Well this video on science of cuteness is cute. It’s funny how half of us just want to squeeze the kitten.