What is it about cats that creates internet page-view gold?
“But why have cats specifically been so successful at soliciting our attention? One hypothesis is that there is a fateful link between cats and human babies that explains their Internet stardom. According to Michael Newall, a philosopher of art at the University of Kent, our inordinate interest in cats may derive from their formal resemblance to our offspring—their big eyes, smallish noses, and dome-shaped heads trigger the evolutionary nurturing instincts that we have evolved toward babies. There may even be a multiplying “superstimulus” effect at work: Newall posits that the exaggerated proportions of cats’ baby-like features prompt an exaggeratedly intense, and involuntary, response in people.”
- Perry Stein, “Why Do Cats Run the Internet? A Scientific Explanation”
Photo courtesy of New York Times
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pennatologist reblogged this from memewhore and added:
… can’t it just be both?
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pixmaven reblogged this from thenewrepublic and added:
that is one hella fat cat
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dr-quandary reblogged this from damnitdisney and added:
lookit that fat baby ♥
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I should have written my thesis about Maru.
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I’m pretty sure adult cats still have large eyes, small noses, and domed heads. And it doesn’t matter if you dislike...
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troisenator reblogged this from discoverynews and added:
Two things here:I don’t agree with the argument that cats remind us of human babies. Cats express a greater range of...
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confusingpiewithreality reblogged this from memewhore and added:
….This cat looks kind of the same size as one of mine…
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