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According to a study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, the visual qualities of teddy bears—such as their fur texture, eye size, and color—play a measurable role in how people assign feelings of comfort and compassion. The researchers found that when people view teddy bears as visually appealing, they are more likely to feel soothed and motivated to care for them. This pattern suggests that visual aesthetics can shape emotional responses in ways that may influence prosocial tendencies.
Teddy bears have long been recognized for their ability to ease stress and offer emotional support. From the Teddy Bear Hospital initiative designed to reduce children’s anxiety in medical settings, to findings showing their role in alleviating feelings of social exclusion, stuffed animals are often treated as stand-ins for safety and care. But until now, little research has examined why certain teddy bears are seen as more comforting than others, or how their physical features contribute to these emotional responses.
The researchers aimed to move beyond anecdotal and clinical evidence by asking a deeper question: What makes a teddy bear comforting just by looking at it? And can this perceived cuteness drive a sense of compassion or care? These questions opened up a new avenue for understanding how emotional reactions to inanimate objects may reflect underlying psychological mechanisms—particularly those related to empathy and prosocial behavior.
“Teddy bears are very present in our daily lives, and we can use them as a subject for scientific mediation with the general public,” said study author Nathalie Blanc, a professor of psychology at the University of Montpellier Paul Valéry.
“They can be at the heart of several fascinating research questions, and in particular can shed light on how their representation has evolved over time, how they bring us comfort, with implications for several social issues (what are the determinants of comfort in supporting children who are hospitalized or in situations of acute stress? Are these determinants the same at all stages of life? Is the strong bond with teddy bears an opportunity to raise children’s awareness of the living world that needs to be protected? In short, this subject offers a sea of possibilities.”
The research involved 11,188 participants in France, ranging in age from 3 to 92. Participants completed an online photo-based survey between June and November 2020. The survey presented side-by-side images of teddy bears and asked participants to select which one looked most beautiful, which appeared most comforting, and which they would feel the strongest urge to protect if threatened. Each participant made 15 such comparisons for each of the three categories.
The photos used in the survey came from two sources. A participatory citizen science campaign provided 280 images, while another 156 were sourced and standardized from Google Images to enhance diversity in bear appearance. All images were edited to a consistent size and background, and a ruler was included to help participants estimate the scale.
In addition to collecting participants’ choices, the researchers conducted detailed measurements of each teddy bear’s visual characteristics. This included physical features such as head size, eye diameter, nose surface area, and fur length, along with color metrics like lightness, saturation, and contrast. The team used advanced modeling techniques, including boosted regression trees, to analyze how these visual traits predicted participants’ responses.
The three primary traits measured—beauty, comfort, and care—were found to be highly correlated. Participants who viewed a teddy bear as visually appealing also tended to see it as comforting and worth protecting. This convergence led the researchers to define a composite measure they called “cuteness.”
“Our study shows that beauty, comfort and the desire to protect are closely linked at all ages, and that we can reveal this link from photographs, without even being able to touch or handle the teddy bears,” Blanc told PsyPost. “So the visual perception of photographs of teddy bears allows us to make this assessment, which leads us to come up with a cuteness score.”
Among all age groups, perceived comfort was the most influential component of cuteness. However, in children under the age of 10, all three components—comfort, beauty, and care—were roughly equal in importance. This suggests that younger children experience aesthetic and emotional qualities as more integrated, whereas adults prioritize comforting appearance more heavily.
Hair length emerged as the most influential feature across the board. Bears with longer fur were consistently rated as cuter. This finding aligns with previous research suggesting that people can infer softness from visual cues, indicating that tactile expectations may influence emotional judgments even without physical contact.
Features associated with “baby schema”—such as large eyes and small muzzles—also shaped perceptions of cuteness, although with age-specific nuances. Adults were more sensitive to these juvenile traits, but tended to dislike bears with exaggerated eye size. Children, on the other hand, favored rounder chests and brighter, more saturated colors, especially non-traditional ones like green, pink, and blue. Pandas were particularly popular among young participants, likely due to their high contrast and symbolic media presence.
The researchers also found that adults showed a stronger preference for stereotypical teddy bear traits—such as brown coloring and classic proportions—while children were more open to playful variations. These results suggest that older participants may rely more on cultural or nostalgic templates when judging cuteness, while children approach the task with more perceptual flexibility.
“Having both young and older participants allowed us to see that preferences evolve over time and that marketing around teddy bears changes our perceptions and preferences, with consequences for stereotypical representations of what is beautiful, comforting and worth protecting,” Blanc said.
Interestingly, the least-cute bears were typically damaged, heavily worn, or had unconventional designs. While one might expect that “shabby” bears would elicit sympathy, this was not the case in the context of anonymous photos. The researchers suggest that in the absence of personal ownership, visual cues of disrepair may signal a loss of function, reducing feelings of safety or emotional warmth.
The research adds to a growing body of work showing that visual aesthetics are deeply tied to emotional and social responses. But as with all research, there are some limitations. Although the sample size was unusually large for a psychological study, the researchers acknowledge a potential self-selection bias. Many participants had personal connections to stuffed animals, which may have influenced their interest in completing the survey.
Future studies could use teddy bears to assess empathy in children by observing whether they share or protect bears they find cute. Similarly, interventions involving bears could be tested in therapeutic settings, such as hospitals or elder care facilities, where feelings of comfort and protection are especially important.
The researchers also propose that stuffed animals could have educational and environmental applications. For example, cute plush versions of less popular or “uncharismatic” animal species might foster early interest in biodiversity and conservation among children.
“As a psychology researcher, I admit that I am very enthusiastic about continuing to study the determinants of attachment, comfort, its physical properties, and the conditions for observing the emotional support provided, but there is also the link with nature through this artefact that is so appreciated and known to all,” Blanc said. “The popularity of the teddy bear makes it an object of participatory science and allows us to develop scientific mediation workshops that are accessible to young and old alike! In short, psychology is moving closer to teddy bear studies in order to better understand and help the general public understand the psychological functioning of the individual, while interacting with other disciplines to optimize its scope.”
The study, “The science of cuteness: where teddy bears’ beauty, comfort and care converge,” was authored by Nathalie Blanc, Anne-Sophie Tribot, Thierry Brassac, and Nicolas Mouquet.