Effects of the feelings of kawaii on psychophysiological states and social relations

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H02651
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Experimental psychology
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Nittono Hiroshi 大阪大学, 人間科学研究科, 教授 (20304371)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 吉田 綾乃 東北福祉大学, 総合福祉学部, 教授 (10367576) ; 小森 政嗣 大阪電気通信大学, 情報通信工学部, 教授 (60352019) ; 金井 嘉宏 東北学院大学, 教養学部, 准教授 (60432689) ; 川本 大史 中部大学, 人文学部, 講師 (50761079)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 実験系心理学 / 感情 / 感性 / 心理生理学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research conceptualized the popular Japanese word "kawaii" (often translated as "cute" in English) as an emotion that occurs when one encounters an object. Various experiments and surveys were conducted to examine how this emotion affects peoples' feelings and behavior. The results showed, for example, that people had a behavioral approach tendency toward infant faces, that the facial smiling muscles were more activated when one was evaluating a face in terms of kawaii than in terms of beauty, and that elderly people saw an object as kawaii not because of its appearance but because of its relation to them. Moreover, a new multivariate algorithm was developed to produce a personalized object (e.g., shape, color) that was seen as having a greater level of kawaii for that person.

Free Research Field

実験心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「かわいい」を愛好する文化は日本で発展したといわれるが，日本にかぎられる現象ではない。今回実施した国際比較調査で，「かわいい」に類する感情は世界中で認められ，好意的に捉えられていることが確認できた。かわいさの知覚やそれがもたらす感情について，文化論を超えた科学的アプローチを行うことにより，国際的に通用する研究テーマとなる。本研究の成果は，「かわいい」感情を用いて，日常生活のストレスや不安を改善するトレーニングにもつながると考えられる。