Supernormal stimulus: what it is, characteristics and examples

Evolutionarily, humans and other organisms tend to give a specific response to certain stimuli.

But sometimes we find stimuli that generate responses that are not entirely justified. We are going to know why this phenomenon known as supernormal stimulus happens, what are the underlying causes and also discover some examples that help us understand this curious phenomenon.

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What is a supernormal stimulus?

Supernormal stimuli, also called super-stimuli or supernormal stimuli, are a specific type of stimulus that exaggerates the qualities of others, thus causing the organism that perceives it to emit a much stronger response than before those normal stimuli.

Evolutionarily, the person has learned to emit that response to normal stimuli, but the supernormal take advantage of it to achieve a more powerful version of it. This phenomenon mainly affects questions pertaining to the fields of psychology and biology. However, examples of supernormal stimulation can also be found in certain sociological and even artistic aspects.

The explanation behind this phenomenon could come, according to experts, from a process of selective pressure. Would an evolutionary mechanism by which an individual of a species would begin to show examples of supernormal stimulation, to obtain a response before other individuals **, whose stimuli were more moderate and therefore could not win that small competition.

In that sense, we would find some colorful attributes in certain animals, such as the peacock's tail, which instead of helping it fly, its function is attract the attention of females to be chosen for reproduction, thus making the genes of that particular individual pass to the next generation. In this case, the size and color of the tail feathers would represent the supernormal stimulus.

Examples of this phenomenon

We have seen that there can be examples of supernormal stimuli in a variety of fields. Therefore, we are going to review the most important ones in order to better understand how this phenomenon works.

1. In the field of biology and ethology

The example of the peacock's tail is one of the many cases of supernormal stimulation that we can find at the biological level. But there are experiments in which researchers have artificially created these types of stimuli. An especially interesting one is the one carried out by the Dutch ornithologist Nikolaas Tinbergen and his collaborators, studying the case of the European herring gull chicks.

The young of this type of bird respond actively to red marks that the parents have on their beaks, pecking them to ask for regurgitated food. Tinbergen proposed an experiment in which a group of chicks were presented with the normal situation with the adult, others were He placed an artificial head in front of it, with the same markings as the real ones, and another was placed next to the figure of a beak, without further ado.

But there was one last group of chicks that were not facing any seemingly organic form. These were placed next to a stick of red tone, with white markings. That is, the red color distribution eliciting its natural pecking response was exaggerated. Which group showed a higher response rate? They were not the beak, or the false head, not even the natural situation.

It was the chicks that were in front of the red stick that proved to be perceiving a supernormal stimulus. Therefore, it was this group that most times pecked the stick in the hope of receiving the food they so desired, and they did without being in a normal situation with the adult birds that were the ones that should provide them with food in an environment real.

It is not the only example. Another test was made, in this case with songbirds, whose eggs are bluish in tone, speckled with gray spots. The scientists took a group of these birds and placed them next to deep blue figures and dark markings, in addition to their eggs, and the birds preferred to climb onto the figure, a clear sign that they were responding to the supernormal stimulus that represented.

What's more, there are cases of species that have evolved to exert supernormal stimuli for other species and thus take advantage of their excessive response. This is the case of cuckoos, a type of bird that falls into the category of breeding parasites, since it makes the members of another species (hosts) that are actually members of their offspring in order to be fed.

How can you get it? Through calls and behaviors that are similar, for example, to warblers, but much more exaggerated, thus managing to capture the response of adults above their own hatchlings. That is, they would be generating a supernormal stimulus to benefit from the automatic response of these birds, which would prefer to feed them rather than their own offspring.

2. In the field of psychology

But supernormal stimuli are not just a matter of biology, as we have already seen. In the field of psychology, that is, of human behavior, there are also clear examples of this phenomenon. One of them could be perceived through junk food, foods that generate a great appetite for their appearance and taste, but in reality, nutritionally, they are terrible for our body.

At the evolutionary level, it has a very logical explanation. The human being, obviously, has not always lived in the civilization that we know now, in fact this represents the least part of the time since the species exists. Instead, biologically we are adapted to the times when we were hunters and gatherers. At that time it was not so easy to provide food for the tribe, much less sugar and fat, so succulent.

But today it is extremely easy to get hold of this type of substance. That's where junk food comes in: extremely palatable components, very easy to obtain in every way (economically and geographically). Hence its unstoppable success, even though health professionals warn of the risks of its consumption.. And it is that the response to the supernormal stimulus often outweighs reasoning.

Of course, sex was not going to be an exception, and we can see clear examples in people who resort to cosmetic surgery to modify and increase their sexual attributes, thus achieving supernormal stimuli that will generate responses in other individuals ahead of other less stimuli. flashy.

Human behavior also responds to supernormal stimuli in other areas, such as programs of the heart, in which visceral reactions are sought that keep the viewer hooked on the screen.

The same goes for social media, which offer the user content that automatically hooks them and generates response after responseWell, he has found exaggerated stimuli that satisfy him and they do not let him escape, or rather he does not want to, because the rest of the normal stimuli do not attract him as much as those.

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3. In the field of art

Returning to the topic of sexuality, but this time within the field of art, we can find examples of supernormal stimulation, for example in the figures of the famous Venus, female sculptures where the attributes and curves are clearly exaggerated, in order to provoke a response to match.

In addition to these figures, you can also see pictorial works in which the painters deliberately decided exaggerate the size of the lips or eyes, to generate a greater attractiveness in the people who were watching the picture. Therefore, they created supernormal stimuli in order to generate greater interest in their works.

Even in audiovisual content we can easily observe how both physical and social qualities are exaggerated in the characters played by some actors and actresses, so that they generate a great response in the spectators and thus want to continue seeing that certain content to the detriment of others.

It can also be observed even without the need for images, for example in novels. Sometimes the arguments of some volumes they take the clichés to the extreme, exaggerating features, for example romantic cut, looking for an emotional response in the reader that responds, without a doubt, to a supernormal stimulus and that, on the other hand, if the text were more realistic, it would probably not take place.

Bibliographic references:

• Doyle, J.F., Pazhoohi, F. (2012). Natural and augmented breasts: Is what is not natural most attractive?. Human Ethology Bulletin.
• Barrett, D. (2007). Waistland: A (R) evolutionary view of our weight and fitness crisis. WW Norton & Company.
• Burkhardt, R.W. (2005). Patterns of behavior: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology. The University of Chicago Press.
• Grim, T., Honza, M. (2001). Does supernormal stimulus influence parental behavior of the cuckoo's host? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
• Tinbergen, N. (1951). The Study of Instinct. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
• Tinbergen, N. (1953). The herring gull's world; a study of the social behavior of birds. London: Collins.