10 Explanations For Those Strange Things You Do All The Time

You could be the most loving, caring animal rights activist out there, but if someone handed you an adorable kitten, you would probably be overwhelmed by the urge to squeeze the life out of it. You know, out of love.

This phenomenon, which has been dubbed "cute aggression", has come under scrutiny recently as researchers are trying to find out why cute things make us want to squish them 'til they pop.

Rebecca Dyer, a graduate student in psychology at Yale University conducted an experiment in which volunteers would look at pictures of adorable kittens, puppies and babies (where do I sign up for that job?) and given bubble wrap that they were allowed to pop as much as they like. A control group was also given bubble wrap, but shown neutral images instead. To nobody's surprise, the group looking at the cute pictures popped significantly more bubbles than the other.

The current thinking is that the overwhelming positive emotion experienced when we look at cute things can be so powerful that the brain gets all mixed up - like when you cry from happiness or laugh like a maniac when you're extremely upset. This could be due to that pesky little neurotransmitter called dopamine.

Dopamine is released when we are happy or excited, but it is also released in aggressive situations, resulting in some crossed wires and the urge to smoosh the cute little bunny rabbit.