Why We Don’t Eat Puppies

It’s because of Kindchenschema. 

There’s a biological phenomenon called Kindchenschema (German for “baby schema”), first described by ethologist Konrad Lorenz in the 1940s. It refers to a specific set of physical features that instantly trigger caregiving and affection in humans:

Large head relative to the body

Big, round eyes placed low on the face

Small nose and mouth

Rounded cheeks and soft body contours

Small chin and jaw

These are the exact proportions all human babies have, and they also appear in puppies, kittens, baby seals, etc. Evolution wired us to feel protective and warm toward anything that displays this “schema,” which is why we melt over infants and cartoon characters with huge eyes.

Some adults naturally retain more of these baby-like proportions into adulthood (a trait called neoteny). A few famous examples:

Audrey Hepburn – enormous eyes, tiny lower face

Ariana Grande – the high ponytail + huge eyes amplify the effect

Emma Watson, Taylor Swift, Zendaya

On the male side: Timothée Chalamet, Elijah Wood, Daniel Radcliffe, Michael Cera

These people don’t have a “condition”; they simply kept more of the universal baby-face blueprint.

And here’s the interesting part: retaining strong Kindchenschema traits gives measurable advantages in life:

Perceived trustworthiness & approachability – Studies show people with baby-faced features are judged as warmer, more honest, and kinder (even when they’re not).

Longer “youthful” career windows – Actors, models, and influencers with neotenous looks often stay in the “cute/relatable” lane for decades (think Paul Rudd still playing 30 at 55).

Social & romantic preference – Across cultures, big-eyed, small-featured faces consistently score higher in attractiveness ratings for both men and women.  It’s why billions is spent each year in eye makeup to try to make eyes look bigger.

Leniency effect – Research finds baby-faced adults are less likely to be found guilty in court (or get lighter sentences) because they look “less capable of malice.”

In short, keeping a little of that baby-face magic into adulthood is essentially a built-in charisma cheat code.  

If you want proof that Kindchenschema is real, you can ask the chicken (tiny head with tiny eyes) you had for dinner or the cute puppy (huge head and huge eyes) that is eating your chicken leftovers.