>[!abstract] >Kindchenschema (literally "baby schema") is a term coined by ethologist Lorenz Konrad in 1943 to refer to the empathetic human emotion that results from interacting with cute people or animals with a set of infantile features such as large eyes, round face, and small nose that trigger caregiving responses. [[Kis, 2021|Kis (2021)]] references studies that have shown various effects related to Kindchenschema: - Showing pictures of unfamiliar infants to participants triggers intense and rapid changes in the orbitofrontal cortex and the accumbens nucleus, pointing towards care-giving and carefulness tendencies. This preference for the Kindchenschema is observed in humans as young as three years of age. - [[Cute aggression]] is an opposite and balancing reaction. - The perceived cuteness of an animal also influences our dietary choices and willingness to eat its meat. - Adults with infantile facial traits are also unconsciously considered less smart and more helpless, which makes them targets to unconscious bias or discrimination in job positions that require responsibility. >[!related] >- **North** (upstream): [[Ethology]] >- **West** (similar): [[Kawaii]], [[Neoteny]] >- **East** (different): [[Pathogen avoidance]] >- **South** (downstream): [[Cute aggression]]