full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Joshua Paul Dale: Why do you want to squeeze cute things?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Some scientists theorize that we may have even domesticated ourselves. The thinking here is that as ancient humans frmoed larger, more ctvpraoioee groups, they steelecd for friendlier individuals. This may have then led to some of the physical characteristics that distinguish us from our closest eialruootnvy cousins, like smaller, rounder skulls and subtler brow ridges.

But if cuteness is related to nirnrutug and decreased aggression, why would anyone ever want to squeeze or bite cute things? Well, cute aggression is importantly not linked to the actual intention to do harm. Instead, it seems to rluset from emotional oeoavlrd. Some scientists think that cute things elicit such positive emotions from certain polpee that the experience becomes overwhelming. They hypothesize that slightly aggressive, discordant thoughts are the brain’s way of putting the brakes on and regulating those itsnene feelings— not getting you to actually eat a kitten.

Open Cloze


Some scientists theorize that we may have even domesticated ourselves. The thinking here is that as ancient humans ______ larger, more ___________ groups, they ________ for friendlier individuals. This may have then led to some of the physical characteristics that distinguish us from our closest ____________ cousins, like smaller, rounder skulls and subtler brow ridges.

But if cuteness is related to _________ and decreased aggression, why would anyone ever want to squeeze or bite cute things? Well, cute aggression is importantly not linked to the actual intention to do harm. Instead, it seems to ______ from emotional ________. Some scientists think that cute things elicit such positive emotions from certain ______ that the experience becomes overwhelming. They hypothesize that slightly aggressive, discordant thoughts are the brain’s way of putting the brakes on and regulating those _______ feelings— not getting you to actually eat a kitten.

Solution


  1. result
  2. evolutionary
  3. people
  4. intense
  5. nurturing
  6. cooperative
  7. selected
  8. overload
  9. formed

Original Text


Some scientists theorize that we may have even domesticated ourselves. The thinking here is that as ancient humans formed larger, more cooperative groups, they selected for friendlier individuals. This may have then led to some of the physical characteristics that distinguish us from our closest evolutionary cousins, like smaller, rounder skulls and subtler brow ridges.

But if cuteness is related to nurturing and decreased aggression, why would anyone ever want to squeeze or bite cute things? Well, cute aggression is importantly not linked to the actual intention to do harm. Instead, it seems to result from emotional overload. Some scientists think that cute things elicit such positive emotions from certain people that the experience becomes overwhelming. They hypothesize that slightly aggressive, discordant thoughts are the brain’s way of putting the brakes on and regulating those intense feelings— not getting you to actually eat a kitten.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
baby schema 3
cute images 2
physical characteristics 2


Important Words


  1. actual
  2. aggression
  3. aggressive
  4. ancient
  5. bite
  6. brakes
  7. brow
  8. characteristics
  9. closest
  10. cooperative
  11. cousins
  12. cute
  13. cuteness
  14. decreased
  15. discordant
  16. distinguish
  17. domesticated
  18. eat
  19. elicit
  20. emotional
  21. emotions
  22. evolutionary
  23. experience
  24. formed
  25. friendlier
  26. groups
  27. harm
  28. humans
  29. hypothesize
  30. importantly
  31. individuals
  32. intense
  33. intention
  34. kitten
  35. larger
  36. led
  37. linked
  38. nurturing
  39. overload
  40. overwhelming
  41. people
  42. physical
  43. positive
  44. putting
  45. regulating
  46. related
  47. result
  48. ridges
  49. rounder
  50. scientists
  51. selected
  52. skulls
  53. slightly
  54. smaller
  55. squeeze
  56. subtler
  57. theorize
  58. thinking
  59. thoughts