Within behavioral psychology, there is a phenomenon known as 'stimulus and response,' as outlined by Dutch biologist Dr. Nikolaas Timbergen, which is an algorithmic, programed reaction based upon external feedback from an organism's environment. For example, if you place an inanimate, innate object within the presence of a domesticated housecat, the cat will sit around, on, or even in the object to better acquaint itself with the new obstacle in its habitat. This is why cats will invade and sleep in items like open boxes, dryers, even just circles made of string on the floor.





There are multitudes of examples of this type of algorithmic behavior across the entirety of the animal kingdom, even in humans. One such stimulus/response is a phenomenon known as "neoteny." In layman's terms, this is the programming of a creature to find traits present in the offspring of its own species appealing: rounded heads, large eyes, the disproportionate anatomical structure of the adolescent compared to the post-pubescent, etcetera. The neoteny stimulus triggers a protector/provider response, particularly in adults of breeding age within a species. It is an emergent program of evolutionary psychology that arose as a reproductive strategy to better ensure ones' own kin survived long enough to reproduce and ensure the perpetuation of the species.





However, within the parameters of stimulation and response is a potential to overload the system with an exaggerated factor, or a supernormal stimulus, which it turn will trigger an equally disproportionate reaction, or hyper-response. Dr. Timbergen demonstrated this effect with an oyster-catcher bird, which incubate only the largest of their eggs out of a clutch. Timbergen placed a replica of an oyster-catcher egg near the nest, and the bird attempted in vain to bring the egg, which was larger than itself, back to the nest, even though the egg was artificial, while the bird left its own real, normal-sized eggs to go cold. Unnerving as it may be to think about, this propensity for supernormal stimulus/hyper-response exists in human psychology as well, and it extends to almost all aspects of our behavior. (Parenthetically, this also to an extent explains the terabytes worth of perverse, impractical/impossible to occur in reality fetish work running rampant on this site, but I digress.)





So with all this established, a supernormal stimulus can occur from neoteny when the traits that would trigger a typical response are exaggerated to comical, literal cartoonish proportions: oval if not entirely circular heads, over-emphasized facial features, eyes that would be too large to fit inside the skull, body structure so disproportionate it wouldn't be able to survive in the wild, and/or personality characteristics similar to a small child, like innocent naivety or social awkwardness. Hyper-responses to such a supernormal stimulus can include (but are not limited to) inexplicable affection, uncontrollable d'aawing, and an entire fandom of post-pubescent men springing up in support of an animated program made for little girls.





And that, is why ponies are so cute.

