The Science Behind Our Baby Yoda Obsession
By Tyler Foley
By Tyler Foley
When I first saw Disney's The Mandalorian, I was immediately drawn to Baby Yoda, also known as Grogu. I, along with everyone else, wanted to give him a giant hug. I wasted a lot of time looking at Baby Yoda gifs, memes, and art. But why is it that so many of us love this 50-year-old infant creature?
But as it turns out, there’s a lot of science behind our feelings. In one study, described on BBC, people were shown pictures of babies as well as adults that had baby-like faces. Their brains were scanned and the neural activation patterns of women looking at baby-faced men were the exact same from when they looked at actual babies. Grogu is the ultimate adult with a baby face. He’s the doppelganger of the powerful and famous Yoda from “Star Wars” but with smoother skin and a cute face - minus, of course, the unique voice pattern, as Grogu is mute.
Grogu stirs our instinctive maternal/paternal feelings, just like cuddly kittens, young deer, and other small creatures. It’s about “cuteness”. The theory, according to Discover Magazine, is known as kindchenschema, or “baby schema” and it holds that infants, human or otherwise, may have things like large eyes and a small nose that make them cute. This creates a unique brain activity in people who feel like they care about them. Extra large eyes, small nose--sound familiar?
Most likely when the producers of the popular show designed the CGI model for Grogu and it was not an accident they made him so cute. They knew Baby Yoda was going to be an Internet craze - something to fawn over and, most importantly, keep people watching the show.
Sources:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/why-babies-are-so-cute-and-why-we-react-the-way-we-do
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160913-the-benefits-of-having-a-babyface
https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a30079354/baby-yoda/
But as it turns out, there’s a lot of science behind our feelings. In one study, described on BBC, people were shown pictures of babies as well as adults that had baby-like faces. Their brains were scanned and the neural activation patterns of women looking at baby-faced men were the exact same from when they looked at actual babies. Grogu is the ultimate adult with a baby face. He’s the doppelganger of the powerful and famous Yoda from “Star Wars” but with smoother skin and a cute face - minus, of course, the unique voice pattern, as Grogu is mute.
Grogu stirs our instinctive maternal/paternal feelings, just like cuddly kittens, young deer, and other small creatures. It’s about “cuteness”. The theory, according to Discover Magazine, is known as kindchenschema, or “baby schema” and it holds that infants, human or otherwise, may have things like large eyes and a small nose that make them cute. This creates a unique brain activity in people who feel like they care about them. Extra large eyes, small nose--sound familiar?
Most likely when the producers of the popular show designed the CGI model for Grogu and it was not an accident they made him so cute. They knew Baby Yoda was going to be an Internet craze - something to fawn over and, most importantly, keep people watching the show.
Sources:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/why-babies-are-so-cute-and-why-we-react-the-way-we-do
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160913-the-benefits-of-having-a-babyface
https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/tv/a30079354/baby-yoda/