It’s science. If an animal looks like a baby, we swoon. Blame your biological drivers. Via WiredUK
at Downing Street. Why? Blame our own biological drivers. “If an animal looks like a baby we swoon,” explains Robin Dunbar, anthropologist and emeritus professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford. “It’s features like big eyes and a high forehead, meaning the eyes are in the centre of the face. You can see this in the design of teddy bear faces. They started out very bear-like, then became baby-like in shape over time.
The instinct to nurture varies from person to person. But it comes back to evolution. “Ultimately, a maternal instinct is much more crucial than a paternal one,” Dunbar explains. “Human babies are born 12 months premature compared to babies of other apes. They have an utter lack of responsiveness over the first year and mothers have the huge burden of lactation. It means something is needed to ensure the mother keeps coming back to tend to the baby.
It’s then that the rational, decision-making part of the brain – the prefrontal cortex – becomes hijacked. Instead, the brain’s emotional centre, the amygdala, takes the steering wheel, directing our thoughts away from logic and towards desire: we want to save Geronimo. “One of the most striking things is that I’d love for him to live,” says Grace Lordan, associate professor in behavioural science at London School of Economics and author of.
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