Poster #90 - Exploring behavioral and emotional mechanisms of cute aggression in children

• In Event: Poster Session 10

Abstract

Background
Cute aggression is the urge some people get to squeeze, pinch, or bite cute things, without any desire to cause harm. Using electrophysiology, Stavropoulos and Alba (2018) found that both the reward and emotional systems were activated while observing cute baby animals and were related to feelings of overwhelm and caretaking in neurotypical (NT) young adults. In comparison, little is known about the development of cute aggression in children. Within normative development, externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity) tend to decline across childhood (Kopp, 1982) and empathy development increases with age (Beadle et al., 2019). As feelings of overwhelm are commonly associated with externalizing behaviors, we hypothesize that children who exhibit more externalizing behavior are more likely to report feelings of cute aggression. Moreover, feelings of cute aggression may serve as a “reminder” that infantile animals are fragile and acting upon such feelings (e.g., squeezing, pinching, or biting) might cause harm. We hypothesize that cute aggression in children may relate to externalizing behaviors and empathy. As autistic children also struggle with these constructs, we hypothesize differences in feelings of cute aggression when compared to NT children.

Methods
Participants included NT (n=31; M=5.19) and autistic children (n=6; M=6.00) and their caregivers. Caregivers completed questionnaires about children’s externalizing behaviors and empathy. Externalizing behavior T-scores were used from the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 3rd Edition (BASC-3; Reynold & Kamphaus, 2015). Prosocial acts of empathy were assessed through the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue; Rieffe et al., 2010). Children completed a behavioral cute aggression task during which they viewed images of cute (baby) animals, and then watched three separate videos of an adult expressing feelings of cute aggression saying “It’s so cute I want to bite/pinch/squeeze it”. Participants rated how much they “feel the same” or “feel differently” as the adult in the video using a child-friendly Likert scale.

Results
Across the whole sample, we found significant negative correlations between cute aggression (“bite”) and externalizing problem T-scores (r=-.37, p=.04), and between cute aggression (“pinch”) and externalizing behavior T-scores (r=-.35, p=.05). A significant positive relationship between cute aggression (“squeeze”) and empathy of prosocial acts (r=.36, p=.04) was observed. As significant relationships were found between our variables of interest in the whole sample, we explored whether this significance was driven by one group over the other. There were no significant correlations found between cute aggression (“bite” or “pinch”) and externalizing problems in either NT or autistic children. In NT children, we found a trending relationship between cute aggression (“squeeze”) and prosocial acts (r=.33, p=.07).

Conclusions
This is the first study to examine cute aggression in children. Findings evidenced a significant relationship between cute aggression of biting, pinching, and squeezing, empathy of prosocial acts, and externalizing behaviors. This suggests that children who express more cute aggression may be less likely to exhibit externalizing behaviors and more likely to understand how to react appropriately to other people’s feelings. The relationship between these behavioral and emotional mechanisms sheds light on an alternative way children may self-regulate when viewing cute animals.

Authors

• Tricia Choy, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Thaniya Shankar

• Katherine Kuhl-Meltzoff Stavropoulos