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In this article, Angie explains the psychological reason as to why we love cat memes as much as we do.
PSychology of cat memes
PSychology of cat memes
By: Angie Dixon
By: Angie Dixon
In search of respite from challenging situations, younger generations often gravitate towards the internet to escape reality. The internet serves as a haven of distraction, nullifying human troubles with nonsensical memes and micro trends. However, due to the fast-paced nature of the internet, many of those trends and memes die out quickly. Despite this, one trend remains ever-present in internet culture, somehow managing to evade being forgotten along with the other thousands of forgotten trends: cat memes. This love for cat memes stems from both the psychological impact pets-- particularly cats-- have on humans, as well as the often amusing and haphazard manner in which cats behave.
For starters, simply owning a cat has insurmountable benefits for humans, thus serving as the foundation for why cat memes are so hilarious-- since they are about the furry companions people know and love. However, this is only scratching the surface as to why humans enjoy those memes to such an extent that they have yet to go out of trend. It is hypothesized that specific features in cats that resemble babies, often known as baby schemas, such as a large head and eyes, a small nose and mouth, and a high, protruding forehead all contribute to the attention that cats receive online. According to a study conducted by Frontiers, a website that explores psychological phenomena, “The term baby schema refers to a set of facial features…commonly found both in human and animal infants. In classical ethology, this specific configuration of features has been described as triggering an innate releasing mechanism for caregiving and affective orientation toward infants.” Since cats strongly resemble human babies, it is therefore hypothesized that the resemblance between cats and newborns is the driving cause of humans loving cats as much as they do. Thus, the adoration humans have for cats makes them a perfect candidate for internet fame, especially in the form of comedy and memes.
Moreover, the love for cat memes is primarily due to the hilarious way in which cats behave. For instance, one of the most humorous behaviors that cats possess is their strange inclination to sleep in obscure, often unintelligible, places around the house. Cats sleep in shoes, in random boxes lying around, and sometimes even on stair railings. According to a video from Ted ED, this entertaining cat quirk is a direct result of their evolution. Tony Buffington, the narrator of the video, explains how “cats climbed to high vantage points to survey their territory and spot prey in the wild…instinctually, viewing the living room from the top of the bookcase is exactly what she’s evolved to do.” Ted ED theorizes that the way that cats conduct themselves in their homes reflects how they had to behave to survive in the past. Additionally, the video suggests that the psychological instincts of cats are the driving force behind cat memes since their instinctual behaviors are now hilariously ludicrous in their new, modern lives.
Overall, the love for cat memes is due to cats' silly mannerisms and the way we perceive those behaviors, as well as the way humans view cats as a whole. Cats are loveably foolish, and their notoriously comical mannerisms have solidified them as a cornerstone of internet culture.
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