The secret behind the comforting power of teddy bears
Scientists from the University of Montpellier, Paul Valéry University, Aix-Marseille University, the CNRS, the IRD, and the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) have investigated the secret behind the comforting power of stuffed animals. Through an innovative participatory experiment involving nearly a thousand participants aged 3 to 72, and by studying the characteristics of hundreds of teddy bears, they demonstrated that the emotional bond plays a far more significant role in providing comfort than any other characteristic. The findings were published on January 30, 2023, in The Journal of Positive Psychology.
A teddy bear is what is known as a transitional object; it provides comfort and security by serving as a substitute for attachment figures, thereby helping children cope better with separation anxiety. The teddy bear is the king of stuffed animals and has held an important place in Western households since the early 20th century, even among adults.
A participatory study
During Researchers’ Night 2019, a participatory study was conducted in 13 French cities to collect photographs and characteristics of several hundred teddy bears brought in by about a thousand participants. Using a questionnaire, participants assessed the bears’ physical, olfactory, and kinesthetic characteristics (softness, ease of handling, etc.). They were then asked to compare the comforting power of their own bear with that of eight other teddy bears. The process was then repeated using a different bear with which the participants had no emotional connection.
A strong emotional bond
Comfort scores were thus calculated for each teddy bear, depending on whether they were evaluated by their “owner” or by another person. The results show that participants overestimate the comforting power of their own teddy bears, illustrating the strong effect of the emotional bond. In addition to this effect, the results also show a significant effect of softness, size, and the fact that the teddy bear is pleasant to handle and look at. The comfort score was not related to the participants’ gender or age: the perception of a teddy bear’s comfort therefore does not change over the course of a lifetime and is not biased by a gender stereotype effect, unlike other objects associated with childhood (such as dolls or fire trucks).
Prior to this study, no research had specifically examined the characteristics taken into account when attributing this comforting power (the teddy bear’s size, the length of its fur, the diameter of its eyes, etc.).
“This work opens up promising avenues for studying the psychological functioning of individuals through teddy bears, but above all, it suggests a degree of predictability regarding their comforting power that could allow for an expansion of their range of uses—for example, in schools, hospitals, the workplace, during negotiations, and in crisis situations,” concludes Thierry Brassac, science communicator at the University of Montpellier.