Have you ever wondered why humans have so much affection for animals they might never come face to face with? One example is the bear, which has become a tender and reassuring figure for most children.
Why do we form attachments to teddy bears? This question was raised by researchers who conducted a study in 2019 comprising 1,000 participants from France aged three to 72. The results were published recently in the “Journal of Positive Psychology”.
Participants brought in hundreds of teddy bears and filled out a questionnaire about specific characteristics of their toy, such as softness, appearance, and so on. They were then asked to compare the comforting power of their bear with eight other teddies.
This was repeated several times, and finally conducted with a teddy bear that was unknown to the participants.
Comforting for any age
One major conclusion of this study is that the emotional bond plays a much more important role in comfort than any other characteristic.
“The teddy bear is a transitional object that brings comfort and security by replacing attachment figures, allowing people to better manage the stress related to separation,” the authors explained.
The results, they added, are independent of the age of the participants, which demonstrates that “the perception of the comfort of a teddy bear does not change over the course of life”.
“This work opens up promising avenues for studying the psychological functioning of individuals thanks to teddy bears; but, above all, it suggests a form of predictability of their comforting power which could allow the list of uses to be extended – at school, in hospital, at work, during negotiations, even in crisis situations.”
Whither wildlife?
But humans’ attachment to stuffed animals can also say a lot about what animals represent in society and in our minds.
“The question of the relationship with living creatures via stuffed animals is not a trivial one; it raises many questions and discussions about our psychology and relationship with nature and living creatures,” researcher Anne-Sophie Tribot, who led the study, explained to “GoodPlanet” magazine.
She emphasised the important role of stuffed animals in connecting children to nature, and suggests extending the range of toys and stuffed animals to a much wider spectrum than the “traditional” bears, tigers or lions – for example, by focusing on birds, fish and insects as well.
It’s an idea that several organisations advocating for the defence of the environment have already seized upon. In 2017, the Sea Shepherd non-profit launched its “Pollutoys” collection of plush toys inspired by marine life.
With the tagline “the cutest way to save our oceans”, the plushies had abdomens filled with items representing various types of trash.
The campaign suggested that these cuddly stuffed animals could be used by educators to help build awareness among young children of the issue of waste left on the beaches by humans and ingested by these animals.
A few years later, the French startup Les Peluches de Marius launched an adorable collection inspired by grouper fish, a species particularly appreciated by scuba divers and threatened by overfishing.
The cuddly toys are designed in France and assembled in Portugal, and part of the company’s sales (10%) are donated to the Tara Océan association, which fights against microplastic pollution in the oceans.