Description

It is not a stretch to say that everyone finds young, tiny creatures cute. Even if people do not particularly like dogs, they will almost always react positively to a puppy. Human babies are much cuter than teenagers (but cockroaches or bed bugs, no matter how small, do not really get the best reaction from us). It is pretty obvious that there is something in some babies—be it human or any other mammal, that makes them just adorable. This claim is even backed up by science! Konrad Lorenz, a zoologist, called this the baby schema. He pointed out that adults seemed to respond favourably to slightly exaggerated head sizes, big eyes, small noses and chubby cheeks. This response includes caretaking behaviour- and even smiling! This also explains why we find pandas, kitten or puppies cute but generally do not want to pet a baby lizard or cockroach—the insects, however tiny, do not have those “adorable” features.