By yaoinlove / Getty Images
It's been scientifically demonstrated that stuffed animals have the capacity to comfort us, no matter how old we are. But could humans' attachment to plush toys contribute to raising our awareness of the importance of preserving other species such as insects or birds?
It's been scientifically demonstrated that stuffed animals have the capacity to comfort us, no matter how old we are. But could humans' attachment to plush toys contribute to raising our awareness of the importance of preserving other species such as insects or birds?
Have you ever wondered why we have so much affection for a stuffed version of an animal we would never ever want to come face to face with? The classic example is undoubtedly the bear, which in its toy form has been transformed into a reassuring and tender figure by western societies for decades. But why do we have this emotional bond with these "teddy bears"? That was the question raised by a very serious study conducted by French researchers. Recently published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, the research was conducted in 2019 in 13 French cities, with a panel of 1,000 participants aged 3 to 72.
The collaborative experiment consisted of participants bringing in hundreds of teddy bears. Participants filled out a questionnaire asking about the specific characteristics of their teddy bear (softness to the touch, appearance, etc.). The volunteers were then asked to compare the comforting power of their "teddy bear" with eight other teddy bears. The operation was then repeated several times in a row, and then conducted again with another 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, it brings comfort and security by replacing the attachment figures, and thus allows to better manage the stress related to the separation," explain the researchers. They add that the results of the study 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, for example, at school, in hospital, at work, during negotiations, in crisis situations," said Thierry Brassac, scientific mediator at the University of Montpellier and co-author of the study.
Raising awareness about the decline of biodiversity through stuffed animals
But our attachment to stuffed animals can also say a lot about representations of animals 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 Mag. She emphasized 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 organizations advocating for the defense of the environment have already seized upon. In 2017, the Sea Shepherd NGO launched its "Pollutoys" collection of plush toys inspired by marine life. "The cutest way to save our oceans" was the tagline of the operation for the soft toys whose abdomens came 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 start-up 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.
