There are most likely those times where you, maybe, see a stuffed animal or toy that is SUPER CUTE. Or maybe you see a younger kid or a chubby baby and think, “Oh my God! They are so cute!”. Then, we suddenly go and squeeze, or pinch, them because we just think the thing or the person is SOOO adorable! But… wait. Squeeze? Almost everyone goes to squeeze, or at least even has the thought of doing, when they see something cute. But why? Why do we always want to squeeze?

You’ve probably heard it before. “I want to squeeze you to death! It’s so cute”. This is called cute aggression. Cute aggression also includes the intense emotions you feel when you see something cute. There are two main reasons why this happens.

First, cute aggression could be an instinct. It just means we want to care for it. When we see something cute, we have the sudden urge to nurture and protect it so all those intense emotions rise up. This leads us to our second point of why cute aggression comes up.

If you are too focused on how cute the thing is, you might not be able to function enough to care for it. Imagine you think a baby is super-duper cute. You can’t stop thinking about how cute it is, to the point where you forget to take care of them and feed and play with them. That would NOT be good. This is where cute aggression steps in. It’s a way for us to deal with overwhelming feelings and to be able to function properly in the case where we think something is WAY too cute. It’s connected to our reward system which is in charge of feelings of pleasure, happiness, and just anything that feels good. When we see something cute, our reward system is “pumping” and working hard. However, there are sometimes when the system goes out of control, which is when cute aggression steps in and keeps it stable. And keeps YOU stable.

But don’t worry! Cute aggression and wanting to pinch or squeeze something you see that is cute is in no way dangerous. It is just a way our body deals with the cutest things :)