We Are More Productive When We Look at Animal Pics at Work, a Study Suggests

Kawaii is a Japanese word for “cute” things, and recently it became a subject for research. A study was conducted by psychological scientists at Hiroshima University and it showed some really interesting results. Actually, it’s created a convincing excuse for those of us who shamelessly spare some work time to peep at cute animal photos.

We at Bright Side thought it was necessary to share this good news with our readers, so here are the findings of this study.

It evokes much more than just our desire to nurture.

It was already clear that heart-warming pictures of animals can bring up many positive feelings inside us, bring a smile to our faces, cheer us up, bring out our parental instincts, and even motivate us to take care of someone who is helpless and in need. However, this study revealed that there is much more: cuteness really affects our abilities and behavior during work, making us more productive.

It makes us care more.

Participants of the first experiment were asked to do a task that required them to be careful (to play the children’s game Operation) before and after viewing images of kittens and puppies. And the results showed that cute pictures made the participants perform with more tenderness and attention.

Thus, the researchers suggested that cute things trigger certain emotions that make us behave in a more careful way, and this can be used in specific working situations like, for instance, driving.

It helps us focus on details.

The second and third experiments were aimed at finding out whether cute pictures improve our concentration and attention to detail. And it turned out that they really do, since the participants performed noticeably better after looking at them.

However, the most interesting part is that the task didn’t suggest helping someone, so this result wasn’t motivated by the desire for caregiving, which cute things may affect. It rather showed that cuteness itself has an effect on our ability to focus and work better.

The secret is in the baby-like features.

And there is even more that was revealed: the reaction to grown up animals was not as effective as to the baby ones. And this is explained by the fact that cute is associated with so called “baby schema” — a set of features like a large head, a high protruding forehead, and large eyes. Baby animals also have baby schema characteristics, which make us consider puppies and kittens to be cuter than dogs and cats.

What kind of things do you like to watch for a better mood?