Baby Love

Why we want to take

care of teddy bears

At the turn of the century, the first teddy bears had low foreheads, long snouts and long limbs like real bears. But over time, they have developed more baby like features.

 

A group of scientists was curious to know whether teddies evolved this way because children demand baby faced bears or because adults did. They gathered together eight pairs of teddies, each comprising a baby faced bear and an adult featured one. These teddies were shown to children aged four, six and eight years old,

 

When asked to choose their favorite bear from each pair, the older children (43 out of 54) preferred the baby faced teddies. But the four year olds chose the baby faced and adult featured bears of each pair equally. When asked which one of all the bears they liked best, the older children chose more baby-faced bears but the four year olds preferred ones with adult-features.

 

The scientists also asked the children what they would like to do with their favorite bear. The four-year-olds wanted to play with it, but the older children said they would like to sleep with the bear. The scientists suggest that young children do not develop a specific desire to look after the young and helpless until they are older.