Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World

by Joshua Paul Dale

Why are some things cute, and others not? What happens to our brains when we see something cute? And how did cuteness go global, from Edwardian children's books to Disney characters?

Cuteness is an area where culture and biology get tangled up. Seeing a cute animal triggers some of the most powerful psychological instincts we have - the ones that elicit our care and protection - but there is a deeper story behind the broad appeal of Japanese cats and saccharine greetings cards.

Joshua Paul Dale, a pioneer in the burgeoning field of cuteness studies, explains how the cute aesthetic spread around the globe, from pop brands to Lolita fashion, kids' cartoons and the unstoppable rise of Hello Kitty. Irresistible delves into the surprisingly ancient origins of Japan's kawaii culture, and uncovers the cross-cultural pollination of the globalised world. If adorable things really do rewire our brains, it can help answer some of the biggest questions we have about our evolutionary history and the mysterious origins of animal domestication.

This is the fascinating cultural history of cuteness, and a revealing look at how our most powerful psychological impulses have remade global style and culture.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Science, Japan, Psychology, Audiobook, Cultural

288 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2024

About the author

Joshua Paul Dale is the author of Irresistible: How Cuteness Wired our Brains and Conquered the World and a Professor of American Literature and Culture at Chuo University in Tokyo. Since moving to Japan in the 1990s, Dale has pioneered the field of Cute Studies, and has been featured as an expert on cuteness by media outlets such as The New York Times, TED-Ed, CNN, National Geographic, the Guardian, The Cut, Refinery29 and Discover Magazine. Visit his website at: www.cutestudies.org.

Reviews

[Elentarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating examination of what makes things "cute", why and how this "cuteness" influences human behaviour, as well as a historical examination of the development of the cultural phenomena as shown in literature and art. The author starts off with Ancient Japanese cuteness in the form of Ancient Japanese literature The Pillow Book, and goes all the way to Japanese kawaii culture, teddy bears, Pokemon and Hello Kitty, with some comparison to American culture, also the changing views of children, and the domestication of dogs (and humans), and the influence of cuteness on a changing society in general, and its use in marketing.  I found the chapters on the interaction between biology and culture particularly interesting.   The focus on Japanese culture was also a nice change.  A complimentary book to this one is Survival of the Friendliest by Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods.

[Joano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is based on the audiobook read by Humphrey Bower.

This book ticked the following boxes:

1. It describes the history of kawaii and the beginning of what’s considered “cute” based on The Pillow Book from the 11th century.

2. What is considered cute in animals and humans and how it’s it now marketed for profit.

3. How wild animals became cute due to domestication. This was supported by evidence of domesticating Arctic foxes over 70 years in Russia. A Hypothesis that Homo sapiens are the main species because we are cute, and theories on how dogs became domesticated.

4. How cute culture was able to develop in Japan due to long stable periods of peace and eventually found its way into the west.

5. The marketing of cute to Middle Aged women due to nostalgia.

I found this book quite fascinating. It’s not really a children’s non fiction book nor was it about shopping and not really about assessing what is cute. But it’s a range of different topics related to cute.

[Francis Pellow · Rating 5 out of 5]

charming Radio 4 Book of the Week abridgement. I would like to read the unabridged book

[Laura Ghitoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpected and surprising read. Loved learning more about cherubs, Kewpie mayo, kawaii culture in Japan, domesticated foxes in the former USSR, bonobos, Hachiko, baby competitions, Shirley Temple and so much more. This seems like the most chaotic and random string of topics to showcase in a book, but it's all connected and truly fascinating.

Definitely a very niche non fiction read, but so entertaining!

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually very interesting. The history of Kawaii and cuteness through a variety of different subjects. Would definitely recommend it

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, if a little overly Japanese, where the author apparently lives. If you ever wanted to know why cute things are 'cute' then this is the book for you. Some history, cuteness and anthropology/sociology thrown in. Suitable for teens and adults.

[Leiza Dolghih · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great premise, but not a whole lot of cohesive thought or analysis or any conclusions. Just some anecdotal stories, that can be interpreted in many different ways.

[Yong Qing Ru · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a lot of cohesiveness to this book - everything was all over the place. Each chapter can be read independently of one another and there is no relation to what came before. I also didn't understand why some chapters existed. Even within each chapter, the flow from one idea to another was so abrupt I had to re-read it again just to understand what the author was trying to convey. And when I moved on to the next few paragraphs, I wonder again what his central idea was. I've never rated any book a two star - in fact most had 4 stars and above but I was really disappointed. Maybe because I had high expectations of it since the title and first chapter was quite promising but it really is a bad read.

[Kieran Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quaint book was a good read after coming from highly academic work and stressors in my own personal life, it offers a nice blend of scientific and personal writing, irresistible looks into the history of cuteness its development across Japan in the form of Kawaii and how this spread and differed to the western world where cuteness is becoming increasingly popular in media and personal life. Dale dives into the hypothesis surrounding evolution of cuteness domestication of cute animals and human cuteness discussing some interesting psychological literature in the emerging cute field and the origins of the study stemming from konrad Lorenz who any self-respecting psychologist knows. I found this book a good read and frequently left me smiling

[Joakim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those books that I thoroughly enjoy because it’s engaging and the unraveling within the subject is really fascinating. Yet it feels a bit scattered and some passages felt unnecessary as it felt like it stole focus on the subjects hand. Would love a deeper dive, aka a longer book, into the phenomenon Cuteness.

[Yasmina · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked:
The topic is interesting.
Good for people who like history.
Some inclusion of images is nice (would have liked for this to be more consistent throughout).

What I didn’t like:
More history content than psychology.
Writing was a bit unorganised and topics didn’t flow.
Repetitive and could have been summarised more concisely.

[Cristina Doroftei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly good :) This book is filled with super interesting facts and stories about cuteness and domestication, from scientific researchers, impact of cuteness during wars, painting styles from Japan and many more. Loved it!

[cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book bit off a bit more than it could chew. I mean, eclectic, and I enjoyed themes of theories of the domestication of animals, etymology and the racial/gender skews of 'cute'. But rather disjointed.

[Victoria Nightingale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book got me with the quote on the front: “you’ll never look at a Hello Kitty or a Pokémon in the same way again.” And if I was going to read an academic book, it makes sense it’s about cuteness.

[Jade Chong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful and easy read. I picked up the book because of its title never expecting to end up exploring the science behind "cuteness".

[Maura Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Author is trying to establish the field of cute studies so this covers the starting topics with a lil bit of anthropology, lil bit of psychology, lil bit of art

[Monica]

Listened to this as an audio book narrated by a man that sounded like a retired Australian news reader . I could not find interest in any part of this book and dnf.

[Chaitat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read. My favorite animal is bonobo~

[Charlie Turnbull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, but quite repetitive and didn’t go into as much depth as I was hoping.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatively Interesting facts and history on kawaii Japanese cuteness and origins of these kind of characters. Some details of pet domestication and other anthropomorphic groups.

[Sophie Laws · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gets better as it goes along, some interesting ideas

[Greta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most interesting book I have ever read!

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

an entertaining and comprehensive intro to cute studies. Dale touches on a little bit of everything

[Ash Booth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like an undergrad dissertation written the night before it’s due

[jengagonewrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A VERY fun book! I loved learning about the Siberian domestic foxes and ancient Japanese artworks featuring animal illustrations in particular.

[GaiB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, if a bit padded. Who'd have thought that there are cuteness scholars in the world!