Cuteness is a delicate and attractive kind of beauty commonly associated with youth, innocence, and helplessness. Human infants and many baby animals define "cuteness" for most people, and the standard characteristics of infancy are typically used to judge the cuteness of other phenomena (for example, plush toys or adult animals).

Cuteness is usually characterized by (but not limited to) some combination of infant-like physical traits, especially small body size with a disproportionately big head, large eyes, a small nose, dimples, and chubby limbs. Infantile personality traits, such as playfulness, fragility, helplessness, affectionate behavior and a need to be nurtured are also generally considered cute.

Psychology of cuteness

Konrad Lorenz argued in 1950 that infantile features triggered nurturing responses in adults. Lorenz argued that this was an evolutionary adaptation, which helped ensure that adults cared for their children, ultimately securing the survival of the species. As evidence for this theory, Lorenz noted that humans react more positively to animals that resemble infants—with big eyes, big heads, shortened noses, etc.—than to animals that do not.

Another way to phrase Lorenz's point is to say that humans prefer animals which exhibit pedomorphosis. Pedomorphosis is the retention of child-like characteristics—such as big heads or large eyes—into adulthood. Thus, pedomorphosis and cuteness may explain the popularity of Giant Pandas and Koalas. The widely perceived cuteness of domesticated animals, such as dogs and cats, may be due to the fact that humans selectively breed their pets for infant-like characteristics, including non-aggressive behavior and child-like appearance.

Some later scientific studies have provided further evidence for Lorenz's theory. For example, it has been shown that human adults react positively to infants who are stereotypically cute. Studies have also shown that responses to cuteness—and to facial attractiveness generally—seem to be similar across and within cultures.^[1]

Additionally, cuteness—or at least physical characteristics associated with infancy—seems to be recognized instinctively by many mammals as well as humans. This is probably because infant mammals share many of the same characteristics as infant humans. The many documented cases of wild animals adopting human foundlings may be explained by the human children's cuteness triggering the maternal instinct in their animal foster mothers.