Miniaturization as a relevant variable in determining cuteness

Abstract

The question of what, exactly, makes a child “cute” began with paper, wherein he postulated a number of craniophysical traits which rendered a child “cute” with the resulting appeal and caretaking behavior on the observer. These facial traits became the focus of research. However, there is another trait that renders someone (or something) as “cute” and it is size. Children are essentially miniature adults. A total of 36 Ss of ages 5–86 were recruited to judge whether they considered inanimate objects to be “cute”. It was found in this study that if an inanimate object is a miniature version of another larger object, it was judged to be “cute”.