Why do we want to squeeze and squish cute things? My latest on NatGeo

If you can't look anything cute - baby, animal or baby animal, without thinking  “I just want to squish your face!” I have good news for you. 

For my latest NatGeo story Professors Hiroshi Nittono of Hiroshima University and Yale psychologist Oriana Aragon both answered questions about Why We Want to Squeeze Cute Animals on Weird Animal Question of the Week. If you’re a cheek pincher, an ear nibbler or a smotherer-with-kisses this is your chance to find out what’s wrong with you….which is nothing. The article explains why it’s actually a helpful emotion. 

Of course I watch cute animal videos like everyone else. It’s my job to watch baby monkeys riding on baby pigs (plus this video has one of the catchiest tunes ever). 
As cute as animals are, though it doesn’t get any cuter than these babies (who are actually full-fledged kids now) the Song Triplets. I discovered these adorable brothers on the Korean reality show The Return of Superman which shows famous Korean dads taking care of their children. I haven't just grown accustomed to their faces...I've grown addicted to them and I've never even been much of a kid person. Daehan, Minguk and Manse always, always make me feel better about the world. Behold: The Power of Cute. 
Bonus: I chose this video of the Songs because at minute 1:14 their dad, actor Song Il-Kook, squeezes Minguk's cheeks and says “You're so cute!” in exactly the style we talk about in the NatGeo story. It shows, as Aragon's study on this behavior points out, that the need to squeeze cute things is international. Cute is the only real superpower.

(Sleeping puppy from The Cutest Sleeping Puppies You'll Ever See; Song triplets pic from YouTube)

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