Cue Adult Caring with Baby Cuteness

Exposure to Kindchenschema nudges us toward doing the socially responsible thing, such as donating to charity and recycling our trash. Kindchenschema are cues associated with the cuteness of infants. Among these cues are round chubby cheeks, large round eyes set low in the face, small chins, and short arms. When people see these in real babies, in pictures of babies, or even in product design features reminiscent of babies, resistances within those people to assisting others will fade.
     Studies at The Pennsylvania State University and The Catholic University of Korea argue that the effect operates quite widely. Not only might viewing a video of human babies at play increase willingness to volunteer time at a daycare center, but viewing a video of cuddly kittens might increase willingness to donate money to the decidedly non-cute cause of assisting wounded veterans. Viewing infant animals activates the same brain areas as does looking at human babies. Beyond the effect of visual characteristics of infants, Kindchenschema sounds—such as the babbling and laughter of babies—increase preferences for an environmentally-friendly snack bar over a non-organic alternative.
     According to research results from University of Texas-San Antonio and NYU Shanghai, the gender of the consumer makes a difference. On average, Kindchenschema leads women to avoid risk, but men to seek it. Behind both these is an increase in caring motivation. But evolution and cultural role demands cause caring to be implemented differently. Men feel relatively more responsibility for the financial security of the child, resulting in men taking chances to earn money. Women feel relatively more responsibility for physical protection of the child. On the playground climbing structure, Mom says, “Don’t go too high,” while Dad says, “See how high you can get.”
     Distinguish between your male and female consumers when deploying the persuasive power of cute.
     Researchers also advise marketers to distinguish Kindchenschema cuteness from whimsical cuteness, which activates self-indulgence more than social responsibility. Imagine an ice cream scoop with a design so playful that many of the consumers viewing it would declare, “Oh, it’s so cute.” Researchers at Boston College and Florida State University found that consumers given such ice cream scoops served themselves bigger helpings than did consumers given plain scoops. People shown a stapler with a design cuing whimsy were more likely to say they’d use the stapler for arts & crafts projects than did those people given a plain looking stapler.

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