Does a soul live inside a stuffed animal?

Why do so many people love stuffed animals, including those that are soft, warm, cuddly and cute or otherwise?

This question sounds like why we favor certain foods, it seems to be just a hobby, but there is actually a deeper meaning behind it, let's talk about this topic next.

Let's start with a famous psychological experiment - the surrogate mother experiment.

Around 1930, Harry F. Harlow, a young American psychologist, used rhesus monkeys, which are genetically close to human beings, to conduct a series of experiments in order to study the importance of security and dependence on infant rearing, and the surrogate mother experiment was one of them.

The experiment consisted of a newborn monkey and two "mom" dolls, one "mom" was covered in plush and provided warmth but no food; the other "mom" was made of wire and provided with food. The other "mom" was made of wire and was cold and hard, but had a milk bottle full of milk. It was found that the monkey preferred to spend time with the "plush mom", and even when food was placed in the arms of the "wire mom", the monkey would still run to the "plush mom" after eating the food. When frightened, the monkeys also hid from their "stuffed moms".

Through longer experiments, it was also proved that the monkeys growing up with their "plush moms" were physically and mentally healthier, while the monkeys growing up with their "wire moms" had a significantly higher incidence of physical illnesses than the former, and were more timid.

Harlow's experiments caused a strong reaction at the time, because the dominant school of psychology at that time was Behaviorism, which believed that all behaviors were produced by responses to stimuli in the environment.

Harlow's series of experiments, however, affirmed the importance of security, love, and intimacy in children's development, and that activities such as seeking soft, warm objects, making skin and visual contact, and then obtaining a sense of security and love are more instinctive needs of human beings, as are natural physiological activities such as eating and sleeping.

After Harlow's experiment, more psychologists and physiologists studied the related phenomenon and came up with the term Consoling touch, which means the behavior of obtaining comfort and security by touching soft and warm objects.

With the development of modern psychology, psychologists have found more reasons why people love stuffed animals:

- Getting contact comfort: this is an instinctive need for security, love, and also can have a significant impact on a person's physical and mental health, which is the biggest inspiration that the Harlow experiment gives us.

Contact comfort allows the body to release pleasurable hormones such as oxytocin, dopamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine, which leads to a sense of security, comfort, and pleasure.

- The instinct of birth and reproduction: we analyze the characteristics of plush toys, generally comfortable touch, soft body, warm body, droll expression, which is almost all the characteristics of infants and mammal pups, and the human love of such characteristics, enjoy the process of getting along with them is a long-term biological evolutionary response, it is precisely because of the innate love of humans for the characteristics of infants, so it will be very natural to shelter and take care of the young offspring, thus ensuring that human beings can live and reproduce. The fact that many girls have memories of mothering rag dolls speaks volumes.

- A cultural symbols and beliefs of the alternatives: the emergence of classic plush toy image, are accompanied by some literary film and television works were born, when we hold Tom the cat, think of Tom and Jerry chasing and playing the interesting scene; when we look at Doraemon, the mind is more it accompanies us, to realize the wishes, and work together to overcome the difficulties of the scene. These plush toys constitute the external substitutes for our inner needs for companionship, warmth and protection.

Nowadays, contact comfort has become a widely accepted method of soothing and treating psychological problems.

Relevant research results have been reflected in many aspects of social life, leading to the birth and formation of many products and psychotherapeutic theories and methods.

For example, the following examples.

Lonely companion products for special populations: In many developed countries, it is common to use plush toys as lonely companion objects for the elderly in senior care service organizations, which usually have warm images such as seals or cats and cats, as well as limbs that can wriggle and carry body heat, to give lonely elderly people the psychological comfort of warmth and companionship.

Products to alleviate youth loneliness and anxiety: the movement of plush toys will change according to the different ways of human touch to give vital feedback, as if interacting with animals to give the user a sense of comfort, which helps to soothe the emotions and bring a positive impact on rehabilitation therapy, and can also be used as a substitute for pets to solve the inconvenience of young people to keep pets.

Legislation to regulate the contact and comforting behavior of orphans: Orphanages in many countries even stipulate by law the time and number of times a child should be hugged every day, so as to ensure that the child receives enough contact and comfort and grows up healthily. This is also a legal affirmation of the positive effects of contact comforting on children's healthy development.

Free Hugs: In many parts of the world, people initiate free hugs during major disasters or commemorative events.

The International Hug Day (January 21st every year) is a day for transmitting warmth and strength through hugs, allowing happiness and comfort to spread quickly between strangers in a very short period of time. Similar activities have a wide impact in schools, nursing fields, and hospitals.

So now you know why you love stuffed animals?

Even if we are not children, liking stuffed animals is a normal thing and there is no need to feel annoyed about it or suppress your hobby.