- Can we get cuter with science?
- Let's talk about that.
(lively music)
Good Mythical Morning.
- Now, most of us go crazy when we see a cute puppy,
a baby, or a kitten, right?
I mean, if you don't, you might be pretty unusual,
because what humans perceive as cute
is actually a scientifically backed phenomenon.
- That's right.
Finding something cute is a natural biological response.
There's nothing to be embarrassed about,
and there's studies to prove it.
So today, we're gonna put one of those studies to good use
by figuring out how strong our cute IQ is.
Our ICute. - Oh, that's cute.
- Yeah.
It's time for "Who's The Cutest Thing In The World?
You Are! Yes You Are!
Yes You Are The Cutest Wittle Thing
In Da Whole Wide World.
Awwwww".
(mimicking robotic beeping)
Research, the science of cuteness.
In simplest of terms, humans are biologically wired
to perceive certain traits as cute.
And the concept of baby schema,
you heard of this?
Baby schema refers to a set of infantile traits
that humans respond strongly to.
- Yes. And when we see things with those infantile traits,
we are wired to actually wanna protect
and care for the creature.
You know, those traits signal to our brains
that the creature possessing them
can't really take care of itself,
it needs to be protected.
And that's why we have that strong reaction
when we see these creatures.
It might be a human baby,
or a dog with baby-like features,
or even an adult with puppy-like features.
- Oh!
Of course, these traits exist on a spectrum.
Some babies can have more traditionally infantile traits
than others.
And depending on how strong these traits appear
in these organisms,
it can actually help predict
how they will get treated by us humans.
Hmm.
And since we're naturally wired to respond to those traits,
the crew should, in theory,
be able to predict what we think is the cutest stuff.
- If we're normal.
- But will we actually align with science?
Stevie, what's about to happen to us?
- [Stevie] In today's experiment,
we're taking inspiration from a study
done by the School of Psychology
at the University of Lincoln in the UK.
We'll show you a series of image sets.
- They studied me.
- [Stevie] Each set will contain two versions--
- He never told me! - of the same image.
However, one of the images
will have had a specific part of it slightly altered
to make it more or less cute according to science.
Using your immediate gut reactions,
I want each of you to tell me
which you think is cuter in each set.
After we've gone through all the images,
we'll go back through and talk about your choices,
and whether or not they're in line with the science.
And it's not really a game,
but we still felt you both needed a prize at the end.
So-- - Thank you.
- We're gonna show you-- - We need a pwize.
- [Stevie] the cutest possible Rhett and Link imaginable,
according to your own cute preferences
that we're about to learn.
- Oh. - Okay.
- [Stevie] So you understand this part?
Okay. - So...
- Whatever's cutest, I'm holding up the number.
- But I think we're gonna be tempted
to make observations in the moment,
like to make observations vocally,
and I think we should keep ourselves from doing that,
because we'll influence...
- Oh, ah, ee!
- Well no, you'll be like,
"Oh, its eyes are bigger,"
If you say that, then I'll know that,
and it will... - Correct.
- I just wanna be like,
just like a robot.
Just like a robot that just determines what thing is cuter.
Just, mm, eh, mm. - Okay.
- I might make those noises.
- [Stevie] Well, like a human.
Like a human, is the point, - Like a human robot.
- [Stevie] Yeah.
Okay, you have your paddles, one or two.
Your photos start now.
(lively music) (camera clicking)
- Okay. (camera clicking)
Look, I'm not saying anything,
except the fact that I'm not saying anything.
(lively music continuing)
(camera clicking)
(lively music continuing)
- Oh, I...
This reminds me of last one.
(camera clicking)
- [Link] What's the difference?
What's the difference? (crew laughing)
I can't tell the difference.
(lively music continuing)
(camera clicking)
What is the difference?
Yeah, I know, I'm just...
All right.
I know it's not the game, but...
Yeah, it's not obvious what's happening.
(lively music continuing) (camera clicking)
(camera clicking)
I'm more into people. (crew laughing)
(lively music continuing)
(camera clicking)
Hey.
Okay. (camera clicking)
What's the difference?
(camera clicking)
Oh.
(crew laughing)
I have to abstain from this one.
(lively music continuing)
(camera clicking)
Okay.
(lively music continuing)
This is the quietest episode we've ever done.
- I know.
It's making you crazy,
driving you nuts. - I know. I can't stand it.
Can't stand it.
I dunno who's cute.
(lively music continuing) (camera clicking)
What's the difference?
(lively music continuing)
Think I'm going for the hats.
- [Stevie] Okay, you have now assessed
- Whoo!
- [Stevie] all available cute comparisons.
Your ICutes will now be tabulated.
- All right.
What do we do in the meantime?
- I feel like there was a few places
where I could tell that,
if the eyes were bigger,
I could tell the eyes were bigger.
- Yeah.
Sometimes I could tell there was a hat involved.
I don't know if you noticed. (crew laughing)
- And then sometimes there was a slightly elongated
or scrunched overall face.
And--
- And most of the time I couldn't tell the difference.
- And it wasn't like,
"I don't know which one's cuter, or which..."
I think my theory is that I don't have a very good ICute.
- Hey, quick reminder.
We wanna invite you to go over
to the Mythical Kitchen channel
and watch the "Last Meal" series.
They're all great.
And the latest one's got Brittany Broski over there,
talking about life, death, and her favorite foods.
It's a joy for everybody,
even though it involves sometimes an existential crisis.
- Sometimes you gotta talk about those things.
- Yeah. So check it out on the Mythical Kitchen channel.
- [Stevie] Okay, so the first set of infantile traits
we tested on you slyly was eye size.
Bigger eyes are a more infantile trait.
So according to science,
you should have been more drawn
to the pictures with bigger eyes.
And now we had three sets of photos
testing for eyes throughout.
And, Rhett, you picked bigger eyes three outta three times,
And, Link, you picked bigger eyes two out of three times.
- Oh, you don't like the big eyes that much,
or not as much as me.
- Well, I like,
I remember her, this redheaded gal.
I don't know, something,
like, something about her eyes squinting
was just very cute to me.
(crew laughing)
- [Stevie] Okay, so,
but both of you chose the majority bigger eyes,
so technically you're aligning with science,
as far, I'd say. - Okay.
- We're still normal.
Hey, nothing to be,
nothing to be scared of.
No reason to panic.
- [Stevie] Okay, the next infantile trait we tested on you
was about head size and shape.
A larger, rounder head is a more infantile trait,
therefore, it should have been what you found cuter.
Rhett, over the sets of images
with these traits we gave you,
you picked the bigger, rounder head two out of three times,
- You missed one. - Yeah.
- [Stevie] And, Link, you chose it one out of three times.
- Oh, wow.
- Oh, really. - Okay.
- I chose it with the cat, I know.
- [Stevie] So you actually preferred the smaller head.
- So I think that, first of all,
okay, hold on.
So go back to that first guy.
You're saying that number two is the bigger head, right,
'cause it's like-- - No.
Number one's a bigger head.
- Well, the number.
Yeah, I said number one is cuter.
- No, number two is a bigger head.
- But bigger.
His face is wider on the number two.
- But it made his eyes smaller.
- It also made his jaw really square,
which makes him less cute, right, for me.
- Yup. Me too.
- You know me, I don't have much of a chin, so.
- And then the next one.
It's cute, no matter what you lookin' at.
- I mean, that's a cute baby, both sides.
- But number one's got a bigger head.
- We've got cute babies on both sides.
- Right.
Or bigger eyes.
- [Stevie] Number two has a bigger head.
So we're on the edge here with science, I would say.
- We're an edge case. - It's an edge case.
- Well, you more so than me.
I'm pretty consistent, man.
I'm pretty consistent.
- [Stevie] Well, the third trait--
- Cute is in the eye of the beholder.
I'm not gonna protect these strangers,
- [Stevie] Was nose size.
So a smaller nose is a more infantile trait.
You should have found it cuter, if the science holds up.
- I like a big nose now.
- [Stevie] Again, three sets of images.
Rhett, you chose the smaller nose one out of three times.
- Yeah, yeah. - You like a big nose?
- I'll take a big nose any day.
- [Stevie] And, Link, you also chose one out of three times.
- Oh yeah, you did it too, man.
- [Stevie] So you both prefer a bigger nose.
- I couldn't tell.
Really?
'Cause on this one I didn't,
I picked one on that one.
I picked the bigger nose.
- Yeah, 'cause the smaller nose is cuter.
- Oh. - Yeah.
You're supposed to think the smaller nose is cuter,
but I don't know about that.
First of all, I wasn't thinking about animals.
- That smaller nose is not cuter.
That baby's having trouble breathing.
- Yeah, it's too small.
- Too small, guys. - That nose is too small.
- It's just not cuter.
I dunno. - We just knew
there was something potentially wrong,
concerning about this baby situation.
- [Stevie] Yeah.
Okay.
So science is getting a little less accurate
as we go on here.
- That's the right way to say it.
- That's right.
Science is wrong. We're right.
- Increasingly wrong.
As we get righter, science gets wronger.
- Listen, that's how you be a real American.
- [Stevie] Well, I told you
at the end you get a prize anyway,
so we'll go with that.
Next, it's all about mouth size.
A smaller mouth is a more infantile trait.
So smaller mouths should be cuter.
Again, - I like a big old mouth.
- [Stevie] You both only chose the\ smaller mouth
one out of three times.
- I like a big mouth too.
- Well, 'cause it needs to be fed.
- I have a small mouth,
and I like a big mouth.
- It has to be fed, that little baby mouth.
Oh, that cat has a smaller mouth?
And that dude.
What about thumb size though?
(crew laughing)
That's really what I care about.
A small thumb is so cute on a big old man.
- [Stevie] Well, lastly, the most important trait
that we tested was one of our own.
Can you guess what it was? (chuckling)
- One of our own traits?
- [Stevie] Yeah. One of our own made up traits.
- Oh, the hat. - Yes.
The tiny top hat, which was a little joke,
but somehow, Link, you chose it two out of three times,
(crew laughing)
and not three out of three times.
- Honestly, it was very cute,
and then it just dropped off.
Like, I got tired of those hats.
(crew laughing)
- So hold on.
So which hat?
You didn't like the hat on the baby?
- I didn't like the hat on the third one.
- That was the baby, I believe.
- Yeah.
No, it was the puppy.
- [Rhett] No, that's the first one.
- Oh.
And then,
no, I liked it on the snake.
It was the baby that was,
that baby was cute without a hat.
You don't need to try that hard.
- The baby doesn't need a hat.
- Yeah. So I was like, no.
- [Stevie] Okay, so--
- And you made that up.
There's no science involved
in putting a top hat on anything.
- [Stevie] Yeah, we didn't include that in the finale.
But your picks, Rhett,
aligned with science three out of five times,
so technically a majority.
And, Link, yours, two out of five times. (chuckling)
- Okay, so you're...
You're just a little less normal.
- I don't know what cute is.
- It's fine.
It's fine.
- Does that mean I'm not a good protector?
- [Stevie] Well, let's see how it applies on,
- Yes.
- [Stevie] You know, I teased the prize.
We were live,
and by we, I don't mean me.
I mean, Twinkie Fingies and Chappy,
were live photoshopping what you each would look like,
based on your own personal, cute preferences,
your own ICutes.
Let's take a look.
- Oh, wow! (crew laughing)
- Oh, look at Rhett.
He's got the big ole eyes.
- That's a cute boy!
- And he's got the big hat on his head.
- That's a cute, cute boy.
I wanna protect him.
- At all costs.
Oh, and there's...
There's me.
I got a hat too, boy!
- You look like you don't have a soul, man.
(crew laughing)
You look like you're...
- I look like,
there's these stuffed animals with really big eyes
you can buy at the airport.
That's what I am,
sitting on a rack,
and everybody's just trying
to get to their next destination.
- Yeah. Like, man-- - Forgetting about it.
- If you make eye contact with that guy for too long...
- [Stevie] Have you seen those vintage sad clown paintings?
That's kinda what you look like.
- That's my favorite style of art!
- Yeah.
Can you go a step further and vintage clown me?
- All right.
Give us a second.
(crew laughing)
- Hm.
What did we learn?
Don't count on me to protect you.
- Yeah.
I will protect you.
And I will protect little big-eyed Rhett.
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- You know what time it is.
- Hi, I'm Mythical Beast Jack from Ogden, Utah,
And I just graduated from obedience school.
And it's time to spin the Wheel of Mythicality.
- That dog learned how to talk at obedience school.
Well, that's cool, man. - Telepathy.
- No, it's cool.
- He also winked.
Did you see that?
- It was very cute.
Click the top link to watch us match the crew
to what's inside their purses in Good Mythical More.
(wheel spinning) - And to find out
where the Wheel of Mythicality's gonna land.
- You're a southern gal and you're drinking Pepsi?
- You know what's worse too,
is I have a Coke tattoo. (laughing)
- What's wrong? - Don't tell nobody.
Okay?
Keep that to yourself.