One of the most fascinating research papers I've read recently is "Dimorphous Expressions of Positive Emotion: Displays of Both Care and Aggression in Response to Cute Stimuli" by Oriana Aragón, Margaret Clark, Rebecca Dyer, and John Bargh, published in Psychological Science in 2015.
This groundbreaking study was the first to systematically investigate something most of us have experienced but rarely think about: the overwhelming urge to squeeze, pinch, or bite something adorable—without any desire to cause harm. "Dimorphous Expressions of Positive Emotion: Displays of Both Care and Aggression in Response to Cute Stimuli"[1] by Oriana Aragón, Margaret Clark, Rebecca Dyer, and John Bargh (Aragón et al., 2015).
The researchers make two main arguments:
a) This phenomenon represents a sophisticated emotional regulation mechanism called "dimorphous expression"—when we express emotions that seem opposite to what we're feeling
b) These seemingly contradictory responses serve to regulate overwhelming positive emotions and maintain functional behavior
So when you look at a baby's chubby cheeks and think "I could just eat you up," your brain isn't malfunctioning. It's running one of the most elegant emotional regulation systems we know of.
You may have heard about similar concepts before. Dimorphous expressions include crying when extremely happy, laughing when nervous, or expressing aggression when overwhelmed by positive emotions (Aragón & Bargh, 2018). [2] These seemingly incongruent displays help maintain emotional equilibrium.
A classic example would be tears of joy: Your emotional system becomes so overwhelmed by positive feelings that it expresses the opposite emotion to maintain stability. Cute aggression works the same way, but specifically for caregiving situations.
This isn't just theoretical speculation. Subsequent neuroimaging research by Katherine Stavropoulos and her team has revealed the specific brain mechanisms underlying cute aggression, providing direct evidence of how this emotional regulation system operates (Stavropoulos & Alba, 2018). [3]
01 Components of Cute Aggression
Based on Aragón's foundational work and subsequent neuroimaging studies, cute aggression involves three main psychological processes:
Emotional Overwhelm
The trigger for cute aggression isn't just finding something cute—it's feeling overwhelmed by positive emotions. Aragón et al. (2015) found that the stronger someone's "I can't handle how adorable this is" response, the more intense their cute aggression becomes. This overwhelm serves as the emotional circuit breaker that activates the regulation system. Participants who reported feeling more overwhelmed by cute stimuli showed significantly higher levels of cute aggression (r = .63, p < .001). [1]
Neural Reward Processing
Stavropoulos and Alba's (2018)[3] ERP study revealed that cute aggression activates specific neural pathways related to reward processing. They found significant correlations between the Reward Positivity (RewP) component—a brain response associated with reward processing—and ratings of cute aggression toward cute animals (r = .32, p < .05). The reward system doesn't just activate when viewing cute stimuli; it gets flooded, and the brain recognizes this flooding as potentially problematic for functioning.
Regulatory Response
The aggressive thoughts and urges serve as a kind of emotional reset button. Aragón's research demonstrated that these responses don't reflect any actual desire to harm; instead, they bring the overwhelmed caregiver back to a functional emotional state where they can provide actual care. Mediation analyses showed that the relationship between finding something cute and experiencing cute aggression was entirely mediated by feeling overwhelmed (Aragón et al., 2015). [1]
To better illustrate how this works, let's trace through a typical cute aggression episode using the research framework.
You encounter something with baby schema features—large eyes, round cheeks, small nose, high forehead. These features are hardwired to capture attention and trigger caregiving behaviors across species (Lorenz, 1943; Kringelbach et al., 2016). [4][5]
Your reward processing system floods with positive emotion. Stavropoulos and Alba (2018)[3] found that people who experience more cute aggression show enhanced neural responses to cute stimuli, particularly in the N200 component associated with emotional salience processing.
So your emotional regulation system generates contradictory thoughts—"I want to squeeze you" or "I could eat you up"—that serve as a kind of emotional circuit breaker, bringing you back to functional equilibrium.
02 The Regulation Paradox
What makes cute aggression so fascinating is how it reveals the sophistication of our emotional systems.
Aragón's research shows several indicators that suggest cute aggression is fundamentally about regulation rather than aggression:
Correlation with Empathy: People who experience cute aggression more intensely tend to be more empathetic and better at caregiving overall. The system that generates these seemingly contradictory impulses is the same one that helps maintain emotional stability for effective caregiving (Aragón et al., 2015).
Caretaking Enhancement: Rather than interfering with caregiving behavior, cute aggression actually correlates with stronger caretaking responses. Stavropoulos and Alba (2018) found evidence for serial mediation where reward processing leads to caretaking feelings, which then lead to feeling overwhelmed, which finally results in cute aggression.
Overwhelm Mediation: The relationship between finding something cute and experiencing cute aggression is entirely mediated by feeling overwhelmed. It's not cuteness itself that triggers the response—it's the emotional flooding that cuteness can produce (Aragón et al., 2015).
The beauty of this system is that it operates automatically. You don't consciously decide to regulate your emotions when looking at something adorable. Your brain runs this background process to keep you functional.
03 Beyond Baby Cheeks
Ever since reading Aragón's research, I've been thinking about how cute aggression extends beyond just babies and animals.
This same regulatory mechanism shows up in romantic relationships. Couples frequently engage in playful biting or use aggressive-sounding endearments. "I could just eat you up" isn't just a figure of speech—it's a reflection of how our brains process intense positive emotions toward people we care about (Aragón & Clark, 2017). [6]
Aragón and Bargh's (2018)[2] broader research on dimorphous expressions suggests that any situation involving overwhelming positive emotion might trigger similar regulatory responses. Think about:
- Achievement Overwhelm: The urge to "destroy" something when you're extremely proud of it
- Gratitude Overwhelm: Feeling like you want to "squeeze the life out of" someone who's helped you
- Joy Overwhelm: The impulse to do something physically intense when extremely happy
In each case, the emotional system recognizes potential overwhelm and generates contradictory impulses to maintain equilibrium.
What's particularly interesting is how this plays out in digital contexts. Social media platforms have inadvertently tapped into cute aggression mechanisms. The "heart eyes" emoji, aggressive commenting on cute content ("I'm deceased," "I can't even"), and the urge to share adorable content compulsively—these might all be digital expressions of the same regulatory system that Aragón first identified.
04 The Elegance of Contradiction
The more I think about Aragón's cute aggression research, the more it reveals about how sophisticated our emotional architecture really is.
We like to think of emotions as straightforward—happy feels good, sad feels bad, angry motivates action. But cute aggression shows us that our emotional systems are constantly running complex background processes to keep us functional.
The system that makes you want to bite baby cheeks is the same one that helps you maintain emotional equilibrium in overwhelming situations. It's not a bug in our emotional software—it's one of the most elegant features that Aragón and her colleagues have systematically documented.
Your brain isn't just processing the immediate emotional experience; it's predicting the consequences of that emotional state and automatically adjusting to optimize for effective functioning. In caregiving situations, this means staying emotionally regulated enough to provide actual care rather than being paralyzed by overwhelming positive feelings.
This has implications beyond understanding why we want to nibble adorable things. Aragón's broader work on dimorphous expressions suggests that many of our seemingly contradictory emotional responses might actually be sophisticated regulatory mechanisms we're not consciously aware of (Aragón & Bargh, 2018).
The next time you feel that inexplicable urge to squeeze something adorable, you're witnessing one of the most sophisticated emotional regulation systems in action—one that Oriana Aragón and her colleagues have systematically mapped and explained. Your brain isn't malfunctioning—it's doing exactly what millions of years of evolution designed it to do.
A closing thought: I tell myself that I write about psychological research "just to understand human behavior better," but let's be honest—all I really want is to signal how intellectually curious I am. So if you found Aragón's analysis of cute aggression as fascinating as I did, that'd be great. Thanks!
