A new study out of Japan—published in the journal BEST SCIENCE EVER—measured workers’ productivity after showing them various sets of photographs. The photos included baby animals, adult animals, and “pleasant food.” Researchers found that workers who viewed the baby animal photos were vastly more productive than the other groups.
The researchers have a few thoughts on why, exactly, this happens. What is it about baby animals that would lead to students having more exact movements? One idea is that it has to do with how we talk to puppies and kittens, generally in a slower voice. That behavioral tendency, they theorize ” may transfer to subsequent task performance.”
Caring for babies (nurturance) not only involves tender treatments but also requires careful attention to the targets’ physical and mental states as well as vigilance against possible threats to the targets. If viewing cute things makes the viewer more attentive, the performance of a non-motor perceptual task would also be improved.
Now, I’m a bit skeptical about this study, so I thought we might as well recreate it right here in Jezebel’s Susan B. Anthony Laboratory of Scientific Internet Science. Below, I’ve provided two videos from each category in the original study (pleasant food, adult animals, and baby animals). What you guys need to do is stop working and spend the rest of the day watching these internet videos. After watching each category, turn your attention back to work for a few minutes and see how productive you are. Then move on to the next category. When you’re all done, put your science findings in the comments!
1. Pleasant Food
2. Adult Animals3. Baby Animals
Well, okay, I don’t know about you guys, but it’s four hours later and I haven’t done ANYTHING but watch YouTube all day. It took me half the day just to write this article, and I looked at hella kittens while doing it. Thanks a lot, science. STUDY DEBUNKED.
