Do Animal Photos Cheer Us Up?

Psychological research have gathered evidence suggesting that viewing lovable photos featuring animals can fight stress and make people happier.

17:16 23 June 2015

Recent research has confirmed that viewing photos of cute pets can fight stress and make us happier. But why is that so? 

 

Human beings are visual creatures and our brain are wired to be biased toward visual information. Lovable pictures of animals evoke our emotions so readily due to visual cues and what they represent. Looking at these pictures for just a few seconds tell us quickly if the environment is safe and pleasant, evoking happy or positive emotional responses. 

 

Research from psychology confirmed that viewing certain types of pictures is good to use. Just as how life’s little stresses create the most negative effects on us, little moments of happiness can fight stress and make us happier. This is exactly the premise of Coc-Cola’s “Choose Happiness” campaign; it seeks to recognise the reality that simply seeing or sharing cute or funny photo can make us feel good. 

 

The research also confirmed that sharing such pictures on social media helps enhance our social standing. This action allows us to make others feel good and that good feeling validates our membership to the society. In addition, making someone feel good inflates our egos, which in turn makes us happy as well.