Science Explains that Babies are Cute For an Evolutionary Reason

Babies appeal to all our senses and even smell cute, triggering key parental behaviors.

Did you know that cuteness among babies is deliberate and even necessary for their survival? It's true.

A new study published in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences explains that the way babies look, smell, and feel when we see and interact them are all designed by nature to trigger our instincts to care and protect. When we see a baby, our mothering, parenting instincts are aroused. The more we interact with babies and smell their skin, hear their coos and gurgling laughter, the more we want to make sure that they are safe.

 "Cuteness" is not only inherent in babies, it's necessary because they need all the protection and nurturing they can get. From an evolutionary standpoint, cuteness is what attracts us and inevitably compels us to take care of babies until they grow up into toddlers, then into young children, up until the time they become independent and able to fend for themselves.

The scientists and researchers behind the study -- Morten Kringelbach, Eloise Stark, Catherine Stark, Professor Marc Bornstein and Professor Alan Stein - are from the Department of Psychiatry and at the University of Oxford. The abstract of their study, "On Cuteness: Unlocking the Parental Brain and Beyond" was published online on May 19 2016.

In a related report, the overall cuteness and physical attractiveness of babies was referred to as "baby schema". Seeing the cute traits and actions of babies triggers what is called the "mesocorticolimbic" system. This is a part of the brain that process happiness, pleasure, and anticipation of reward. What this simply means is that we find enjoyment in seeing and playing with babies, and this more than compensates for all the other difficulties and inconveniences we experience when having to care for them.

But then again we may ask, what about those who don't feel the same attraction for babies and don't even want to have children? Is there something wrong with them? No, there are many factors - socio-economic reasons included - that play into this. But scientifically? Those who are not attracted by baby schema are just simply more resistant to it.

In any case, most of us are just crazy about babies! So bring on the cuteness!