Brains Applied's video: Why Do We Like Cat Videos

Hi there everyone, Today's video is about everyone's favorite videos! CAT VIDEOS! Studies have found that people are willingly to consume social media to change their emotional state or to maintain their positive one, often unconsciously. That's why you look at your Instagram so often. You know it is relaxing and fun and you know that it will make you feel better, so you just do it. And this proven theory is called the Mood Management Theory. The question is off course, how does this translate to cat videos? Let's go back to the research about why we keep pets. Historically we would have held dogs for herding or to guard our properties. We would have kept cats to protect our food from mice. But why do we keep them nowadays? One theory states that we just like it because we are social beings, and imitating other people with pets makes us feel good. The best evidence for this theory is the extent to which our cultures differ in the frequency of pet-keeping. Some cultures prefer cats and dogs while in other cultures people don't like pets at all. Anyways, for some reason or another, people in Western cultures tend to see pets as social beings with human-like characteristics and we treat them as such, which makes us feel good because we are social animals. Now according to the Media Equation of Reeves and Nass people tend to react to computers and their content as if they were real. Experiments, for example, showed that just like with people, extrovert people prefer extrovert computer programs while introvert people prefer introvert programs. The personality of the computer was, in this case, changed through the language it used. This phenomenon occurs automatically and it implies that videos, just like real pets, can improve our mood. I was able to find two studies who tested this hypothesis, and they have found that cat videos indeed make you happier, and as a consequence more eager to work hard, more creative and more curious to learn more. This also means that cat videos re-energize us and make us more attentive during our next tasks. We especially like cats and puppies because of their cuteness and big eyes, which makes them somewhat similar to babies. It has been suggested that we have an evolutionary trait that makes us more caring for something or someone that looks cute. So babies, as well as tiny animals. And are there any disadvantages to watching cat videos? Yes, watching cat videos is a form of procrastination. After a draining day at work or school, you may start to procrastinate because you don't want to do the annoying stuff that you still have to do. And this is bad, because procrastination and internet usage is also related to feeling more guilty. So no, watching cat videos isn't absolutely fantastic, because you need to get your job done! Don’t forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to the video!   Follow me on Twitter on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainsapplied/ https://twitter.com/BrainsApplied   Music by Bensound.com References: Blouin, D. D. (2012). Understanding relations between people and their pets. Sociology Compass, 6(11), 856-869. Herzog, H. (2014). Biology, culture, and the origins of pet-keeping. Jacobs, M. H. (2009). Why Do We Like or Dislike Animals? Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 14(1), 1–11. doi:10.1080/10871200802545765  Janicke-Bowles, S. H., Rieger, D., & Connor, W. (2019). Finding meaning at work: The role of inspiring and funny YouTube videos on work-related well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 20(2), 619-640. Kogan, L. R., Hellyer, P. W., Clapp, T. R., Suchman, E., McLean, J., & Schoenfeld-Tacher, R. (2018). Use of Short Animal-Themed Videos to Enhance Veterinary Students' Mood, Attention, and Understanding of Pharmacology Lectures. Journal of veterinary medical education, 45(2), 188-194. Myrick, J. G. (2015). Emotion regulation, procrastination, and watching cat videos online: Who watches Internet cats, why, and to what effect?. Computers in human behavior, 52, 168-176. Vitak, J., Crouse, J., & LaRose, R. (2011). Personal Internet use at work: Understanding cyberslacking. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(5), 1751–1759. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2011.03.002