The concept is derived from ethology. Konrad Lorenz observed that birds would select for brooding eggs that resembled those of their own species but were larger.
Birds sometimes protect and nurture eggs of similar species but larger. This should obviously refute the hypothesis that super-stimuli cannot occur in nature. These eggs presumably inspire the same nurture-cuteness drives in birds that cute bunnies inspire in us. Our evolved feelings are imperfectly calibrated, this is truly no surprise to evolutionary psychologists.
Birds sometimes protect and nurture eggs of similar species but larger. This should obviously refute the hypothesis that super-stimuli cannot occur in nature.
What is the evidence that the birds are being super-stimulated by an egg from another species? They are being sufficiently stimulated to protect the egg, but are they being vastly more stimulated than they are by their own eggs?
I take it the birds are preferring a larger alien egg over their own. Is the idea that they act as though they are thinking, “Larger eggs are healthier, this looks like my eggs look, and I should invest my resources in my largest egg.”? In which case, the alien egg only needs to be just barely larger than the bird’s own egg for the bird to prefer the alien egg.
The mystery isn’t that humans find rabbits sufficiently cute to be worthy of protection. The mystery is that many humans say that they find rabbits vastly cuter than babies.
You can’t tell from the context I gave, admittedly. But in the original research it is quite clear that birds will prefer to take care of larger eggs in their own broods, and will neglect smaller eggs. If a similar but larger egg from another species is present, the birds will actually prefer to care for it, since it is larger and thus “seems” more viable.
Most humans would not go to greater lengths to protect a rabbit than a human baby, in this case cuteness does not correspond directly to the effort someone would be willing to expend to protect a rabbit vs. a baby. We can’t get birds to report how ‘cute’ they find something, we can only infer from their behaviour how they respond to different stimuli.
Birds sometimes protect and nurture eggs of similar species but larger. This should obviously refute the hypothesis that super-stimuli cannot occur in nature. These eggs presumably inspire the same nurture-cuteness drives in birds that cute bunnies inspire in us. Our evolved feelings are imperfectly calibrated, this is truly no surprise to evolutionary psychologists.
What is the evidence that the birds are being super-stimulated by an egg from another species? They are being sufficiently stimulated to protect the egg, but are they being vastly more stimulated than they are by their own eggs?
I take it the birds are preferring a larger alien egg over their own. Is the idea that they act as though they are thinking, “Larger eggs are healthier, this looks like my eggs look, and I should invest my resources in my largest egg.”? In which case, the alien egg only needs to be just barely larger than the bird’s own egg for the bird to prefer the alien egg.
The mystery isn’t that humans find rabbits sufficiently cute to be worthy of protection. The mystery is that many humans say that they find rabbits vastly cuter than babies.
You can’t tell from the context I gave, admittedly. But in the original research it is quite clear that birds will prefer to take care of larger eggs in their own broods, and will neglect smaller eggs. If a similar but larger egg from another species is present, the birds will actually prefer to care for it, since it is larger and thus “seems” more viable.
Most humans would not go to greater lengths to protect a rabbit than a human baby, in this case cuteness does not correspond directly to the effort someone would be willing to expend to protect a rabbit vs. a baby. We can’t get birds to report how ‘cute’ they find something, we can only infer from their behaviour how they respond to different stimuli.