IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v7y2017i2p2158244017709321.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Psychophysiological Responses to Kawaii Pictures With or Without Baby Schema

Author

Listed:
  • Hiroshi Nittono
  • Namiha Ihara

Abstract

Baby schema has been considered a key stimulus that triggers feelings and thoughts of cuteness. Kawaii is a Japanese word that roughly translates to cute in English, but its meaning appears to be broader than cute. Specifically, cuteness is often regarded as synonymous with infant physical attractiveness, whereas kawaii is used not only for babies but also for noninfantile objects. In this study, psychophysiological responses were compared between two types of kawaii pictures: human babies and animals ( kawaii with baby schema) or objects such as desserts and dress accessories ( kawaii without baby schema). Twenty female university students were asked to view various pictures twice. Both types of kawaii pictures were rated to be more pleasant than neutral pictures, elicited a greater activation of the zygomaticus major muscles associated with smiling, and were viewed for a longer period when the same pictures were presented again. The effect of baby schema appeared in the zygomaticus major muscle activity, which was greater for pictures with baby schema. The findings suggest that the word kawaii expresses positive feelings that are more generic than infant attractiveness and that are associated with a motivation to approach a preferable object.

Suggested Citation

  • Hiroshi Nittono & Namiha Ihara, 2017. "Psychophysiological Responses to Kawaii Pictures With or Without Baby Schema," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(2), pages 21582440177, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:2158244017709321
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244017709321
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244017709321
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244017709321?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gergana Y. Nenkov & Maura L. Scott, 2014. ""So Cute I Could Eat It Up": Priming Effects of Cute Products on Indulgent Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 41(2), pages 326-341.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hiroshi Nittono & Shiri Lieber-Milo & Joshua P. Dale, 2021. "Cross-Cultural Comparisons of the Cute and Related Concepts in Japan, the United States, and Israel," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    2. Hiroshi Nittono & Hatsune Saito & Namiha Ihara & Dante Nicolas Fenocchio & Jorge Mario Andreau, 2023. "English and Spanish Adjectives That Describe the Japanese Concept of Kawaii," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    3. Hsuan‐Yi Chou & Xing‐Yu (Marcos) Chu & Tzu‐Chun Chen, 2022. "The healing effect of cute elements," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 565-596, June.
    4. Markus Blut & Cheng Wang & Nancy V. Wünderlich & Christian Brock, 2021. "Understanding anthropomorphism in service provision: a meta-analysis of physical robots, chatbots, and other AI," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 632-658, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tao Zhang & Chao Feng & Hui Chen & Junjie Xian, 2022. "Calming the customers by AI: Investigating the role of chatbot acting-cute strategies in soothing negative customer emotions," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(4), pages 2277-2292, December.
    2. Hsuan‐Yi Chou & Xing‐Yu (Marcos) Chu & Tzu‐Chun Chen, 2022. "The healing effect of cute elements," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 565-596, June.
    3. Thürridl, Carina & Kamleitner, Bernadette & Ruzeviciute, Ruta & Süssenbach, Sophie & Dickert, Stephan, 2020. "From happy consumption to possessive bonds: When positive affect increases psychological ownership for brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 89-103.
    4. Chun-Tuan Chang & Xing-Yu (Marcos) Chu, 2020. "The give and take of cause-related marketing: purchasing cause-related products licenses consumer indulgence," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 203-221, March.
    5. Markus Blut & Cheng Wang & Nancy V. Wünderlich & Christian Brock, 2021. "Understanding anthropomorphism in service provision: a meta-analysis of physical robots, chatbots, and other AI," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 632-658, July.
    6. Velasco, Franklin & Yang, Zhiyong & Janakiraman, Narayanan, 2021. "A meta-analytic investigation of consumer response to anthropomorphic appeals: The roles of product type and uncertainty avoidance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 735-746.
    7. Marion Garaus, 2020. "The influence of media multitasking on advertising effectiveness," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 10(3), pages 244-259, December.
    8. Martin Mende & Maura L. Scott & Aaron M. Garvey & Lisa E. Bolton, 2019. "The marketing of love: how attachment styles affect romantic consumption journeys," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 255-273, March.
    9. Chen Wang & Yanliu Huang & Vicki MorwitzEditor & Stijn van OsselaerAssociate Editor, 2018. "“I Want to Know the Answer! Give Me Fish ’n’ Chips!”: The Impact of Curiosity on Indulgent Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(5), pages 1052-1067.
    10. Liu, Fu & Wei, Haiying & Wang, Xingyuan & Zhu, Zhenzhong & Chen, Haipeng Allan, 2023. "The influence of online review dispersion on consumers’ purchase intention: The moderating role of dialectical thinking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    11. Lv, Xingyang & Liu, Yue & Luo, Jingjing & Liu, Yuqing & Li, Chunxiao, 2021. "Does a cute artificial intelligence assistant soften the blow? The impact of cuteness on customer tolerance of assistant service failure," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Hiroshi Nittono & Shiri Lieber-Milo & Joshua P. Dale, 2021. "Cross-Cultural Comparisons of the Cute and Related Concepts in Japan, the United States, and Israel," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, January.
    13. Jasmina Ilicic & Stacey M. Brennan & Alicia Kulczynski, 2021. "Sinfully decadent: priming effects of immoral advertising symbols on indulgence," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 61-73, March.
    14. Garaus, Marion & Wagner, Udo & Manzinger, Sandra, 2017. "Happy grocery shopper: The creation of positive emotions through affective digital signage content," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 295-305.
    15. Jacob Suher & Courtney Szocs & Koert Ittersum, 2021. "When imperfect is preferred: the differential effect of aesthetic imperfections on choice of processed and unprocessed foods," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 903-924, September.
    16. Lin, Ying-Ching & Chang, Chiu-Chi Angela, 2021. "Influencing Consumer Responses to Highly Aesthetic Products: The Role of Mindsets," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(3), pages 459-476.
    17. Hiroshi Nittono & Hatsune Saito & Namiha Ihara & Dante Nicolas Fenocchio & Jorge Mario Andreau, 2023. "English and Spanish Adjectives That Describe the Japanese Concept of Kawaii," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    18. Chang, En-Chung & Xie, Chunya & Fan, Xiaomeng, 2022. "Defending the rules: How exposure to immoral behavior influences the boundary preference," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 654-663.
    19. Sharma, Monika & Rahman, Zillur, 2022. "Anthropomorphic brand management: An integrated review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 463-475.
    20. Jaud, David A. & Melnyk, Valentyna, 2020. "The effect of text-only versus text-and-image wine labels on liking, taste and purchase intentions. The mediating role of affective fluency," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:2158244017709321. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.