我們對(duì)萌寵的偏愛(ài)是有原因的

網(wǎng)上關(guān)于“小動(dòng)物” “迷你”的視頻隨處可見，有微型的生日慶祝，浪漫的約會(huì)，還有由小天使動(dòng)物主演的Tiki派對(duì)。這些視頻已經(jīng)積累了數(shù)以百萬(wàn)計(jì)的點(diǎn)擊。那么，為什么這些小東西會(huì)令人如此滿意呢?在某種程度上，這是因?yàn)槲覀兊哪康木褪且蕾p生活中較小的事物。

The protagonist is typically a small animal with a big head and big eyes, features collectively known as “baby schema”—a phrase coined in a 1943 paper by Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz. Human infants are the prototypical embodiment of baby schema. Because our babies are so helpless, Lorenz proposed, we evolved to find these characteristics cute so we’ll instinctually want to take care of them. This response helps our species survive. In fact, the power of baby schema is so strong, we’re even attracted to other beings with these traits.

這些事物通常是一些腦袋大眼睛也大的小動(dòng)物，統(tǒng)稱為“嬰兒圖式” - 這是1943年奧地利道德學(xué)家 Konrad Lorenz 在一篇論文中首提的名稱。人類嬰兒是嬰兒圖式的原型。因?yàn)槲覀兊暮⒆邮侨绱藷o(wú)助，洛倫茲提出，我們進(jìn)化到發(fā)現(xiàn)這些特征可愛(ài)，所以我們本能地想要照顧它們。這種反應(yīng)有助于我們的物種生存。事實(shí)上，嬰兒圖式太強(qiáng)了，我們也被其所吸引。

“We’re not robots or computers,” says Adrian David Cheok, director of the Imagineering Institute in Malaysia, who has studied Kawaii, a culture prevalent in Japan that celebrates the adorable side of life. “Not only do we find other people’s children cute, we also find other animals cute, like puppies or kittens, because they have similar features to human babies.”

“我們不是機(jī)器人或電腦，”馬來(lái)西亞視覺(jué)工程研究所的主任 Adrian David Cheok 說(shuō)道，他曾研究過(guò) Kawaii 這種日本流行的文化，即“可愛(ài)”。 “我們不僅發(fā)現(xiàn)其他人的孩子很可愛(ài)，我們還發(fā)現(xiàn)其他動(dòng)物可愛(ài)，如小狗或小貓，因?yàn)樗鼈兙哂信c人類嬰兒相似的特征。”

Research bears this out. Dozens of studies show that the smaller and more stereotypically “baby” a human or animal looks, the more we want to protect it. One investigation found that seeing pictures of baby animals makes us smile, while another discovered that photos of human infants trigger the nucleus accumbens, a brain region implicated in the anticipation of a reward. There’s even evidence that cute things help us concentrate and perform tasks better, theoretically because they sharpen the focus of our attention on the recipients of our care.

研究證實(shí)了這一點(diǎn)。數(shù)十項(xiàng)研究表明，我們看到人類或動(dòng)物里看起來(lái)更小、更刻板的“嬰兒”，我們?cè)较氡Ｗo(hù)它。一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，看到小動(dòng)物的照片會(huì)讓我們微笑，而另一個(gè)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，人類嬰兒的照片會(huì)觸發(fā)伏隔核——一個(gè)涉及預(yù)期獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)的大腦區(qū)域。 甚至有證據(jù)表明，可愛(ài)的東西可以幫助我們更好地集中精力并更好地完成任務(wù)，理論上是因?yàn)樗鼈兪刮覀兊淖⒁饬性谖覀兊哪繕?biāo)之上。

Our response to baby schema is so strong that it also spills out toward inanimate objects. In a 2011 study, researchers tweaked images of cars to make them embody the baby schema, with huge headlights and smaller grilles to reflect infants’ big eyes and small noses. College students smiled more at pictures of the baby-faced autos, finding them more appealing than the unaltered versions.

我們對(duì)嬰兒圖式的反應(yīng)太強(qiáng)了，以至于這種感覺(jué)也向無(wú)生命的物體擴(kuò)展。在2011年的一項(xiàng)研究中，研究人員PS了汽車圖像，使其體現(xiàn)了嬰兒的體型，巨大的頭燈和較小的格柵，以對(duì)應(yīng)嬰兒的大眼睛和小鼻子。大學(xué)生們對(duì)嬰兒臉型汽車的照片微笑更多，它們比未經(jīng)PS的版本更具吸引力。

Mimicking chubby-cheeked critters to make goods more attractive might help sell cars, but not all little creatures have features manufacturers should imitate. Some small animals don’t exactly inspire our cuddle reflex—who wants to caress a cockroach? That’s partly because these beasties display traits (bitty heads, large bodies, and beady eyes) that don’t fit the baby schema. Sure, some people have a soft spot for “ugly cute” animals, including some species of spiders, but these still fall on Lorenz’s spectrum with big, bright peepers.

模仿胖乎乎的臉頰的外形使商品更具吸引力，可能有助于銷售汽車，但并非所有小尺寸生物都具有制造商應(yīng)該采用的特征。一些小動(dòng)物并沒(méi)有完全激發(fā)我們的擁抱反射 - 誰(shuí)想要愛(ài)撫蟑螂?這部分是因?yàn)檫@些小動(dòng)物顯示出不適合嬰兒模式的特征(頭部粗大，身體龐大，小眼睛圓又亮)。當(dāng)然，有些人對(duì)“丑陋的可愛(ài)”動(dòng)物情有獨(dú)鐘，包括一些蜘蛛，但不是主流。

What about the things we squee over that don’t have eyes at all? Think of that darling burrito. What it lacks in a face, it makes up for in sheer artistry. “When you’re looking at [things] and seeing them as cute because they’re small, you’re also seeing them as cute because they’re cleverly made,” says Joshua Paul Dale, a faculty member at Tokyo Gakugei University and co-editor of the book The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness.

那些根本沒(méi)有眼睛的東西怎么樣呢?小尺寸工藝品的藝術(shù)性也很強(qiáng)。“當(dāng)你看著它們，看到它們很可愛(ài)，因?yàn)樗鼈兒苄?，也因?yàn)樗鼈冎谱鞯煤芮擅睿?rdquo;東京學(xué)藝大學(xué)的教員 Joshua Paul Dale ——《美學(xué)與可愛(ài)的影響》一書的共同編輯如此表示。

It makes sense then that the original meaning of “cute” was “clever or shrewd.” Simply put, we appreciate the craftsmanship of small things—it’s more difficult to make a burrito the size of a thumb than one as big as your forearm.

“可愛(ài)”的原始含義是“聰明或精明”。簡(jiǎn)而言之，我們欣賞小東西的工藝 - 制作一個(gè)拇指大小的工藝品比做一個(gè)更大的更難。

These tiny, carefully made items may also bring us joy because they make us want to play. Psychologists Gary Sherman and Jonathan Haidt theorize that cuteness triggers not just a protective impulse, but also a childlike response that encourages fun. To them, the desire to engage with cute things stems from our need to socialize children through play—an urge we transfer to adorable objects.

這些精心制作的小物品也可能帶給我們快樂(lè)，因?yàn)槲覀儠?huì)很想把玩。心理學(xué)家 Gary Sherman 和 Jonathan Haidt 認(rèn)為，可愛(ài)不僅會(huì)引發(fā)保護(hù)性沖動(dòng)，還會(huì)引發(fā)孩子般的反應(yīng)，鼓勵(lì)我們玩樂(lè)。對(duì)我們來(lái)說(shuō)，與可愛(ài)事物互動(dòng)的愿望源于我們通過(guò)游戲社交的孩子般的需要。

Craftsmanship and playfulness definitely factor in to why we find pint-size things so charming, but don’t discount the huge impact of their petite proportions. Miniature scenes make us feel powerful as viewers. Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss suggests in The Savage Mind that we derive satisfaction from minuscule objects because we can see and comprehend them in their entirety, which makes them less threatening. Essentially, tiny towns, toy soldiers, and miniature tea sets make us feel like gods…or Godzillas.

工藝和娛樂(lè)性肯定會(huì)影響我們?yōu)槭裁磿?huì)認(rèn)為小巧的東西如此迷人，但不要忽視它們嬌小比例的巨大影響。微型場(chǎng)景讓我們感覺(jué)像觀眾一樣強(qiáng)大。人類學(xué)家列維斯特勞斯在《原始思維》中建議我們從微小的物體中獲得滿足感，因?yàn)槲覀兛梢酝暾乜吹胶屠斫馑鼈儯@使得它們的威脅性降低。從本質(zhì)上講，微縮城鎮(zhèn)、玩具士兵和微型茶具讓我們感覺(jué)像神......或哥斯拉。

That power, of course, is all in your head. The reason you smile as you build a ship in a bottle or watch videos like “Tiny Birthday for a Tiny Hedgehog” (Look it up. You’re welcome.) is that your brain is taking in the sight of that carefully frosted cake and small spiky body topped with a party hat and sending you mental rewards, causing you to feel formidable, focused, happy, and capable of keeping the weak and vulnerable alive. Yes, it means we are easily dominated by diminutive things, but so what? They’re adorable.

當(dāng)然，這種力量只在你的腦海里。當(dāng)你欣賞瓶中船或觀看諸如“小刺猬的小生日”之類的視頻時(shí)，你微笑的原因就是你的大腦正在欣賞那個(gè)小蛋糕和刺猬那小尖尖的身體，戴著派對(duì)帽，給你帶來(lái)精神上的獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)，讓你感到強(qiáng)大，專注，快樂(lè)。是的，這意味著我們很容易受到微小事物的支配，但那又怎樣呢? 他們很可愛(ài)。