Psychology and Dolls

Hmmm... I do find dolls beautiful--and BJDs more beautiful than most any other type of dolls. And I DO like looking at them-- others, my own, and photos...

I wouldn't be surprised if there were some sort of psychological aspect to it. Of course, as others have said, there are all kinds of reasons why people are responding to certain things, and many people are different, but there still may be some basic set of things we are responding to when we are attracted to a doll.

Interesting thought. It definitely needs some testing, of course!

 

Doll being attractive is really a major factor in this hobby,
of course you will be persuaded to buy a doll that you find too beautiful or handsome etc
I think there is indeed psychology in that, the way we think that this is what I want, this is what I like cause its....and this is... and son on... the way we prefer companies from the other as well as of sizes
I just think that the way we look at the hobby will be different from this who are not
there maybe a great difference when I person is unfamiliar or dislikes that thing/hobby
but for us wee see it in a very different light

 

I originally wanted to get bjds to compliment my decorating taste. So, it was an aesthetic decision. I bought my first doll based on the fact that he was the most beautiful face I'd ever seen.

After being in the hobby for almost a year now, I think what I want from dolls is different now. I used to look for perfection which is more stylistic according to my taste (SOOM). Yet, I now seek diversity within a realistically human looking package (Iplehouse). The dolls also mean more to me than pretty decorations, and I've noticed my taste change as I began to want them for more than shallow reasons.

 

I'm currently taking a social psychology course too (actually just wrote my midterm a few hours ago, lol) and I can say that while this reward pathway is universal in the human brain, I do think that other factors relating to each individual also applies. While we are attracted to "baby-faced-ness", which would explain the way dolls look youthful and have certain big-eyed features, there are other people who like older looking, mature dolls. Then there are my friends, who don't think dolls are attractive at all - they think they're scary looking.

Being attracted to baby-face like features have an evolutionary basis, but that isn't the only valid explanation for behaviour. And I feel that I should stop here, because I'm going to get completely off topic cause this makes me want to focus on psychology and not the actual ball-jointed doll. xD;; I mean if you think about it, shouldn't pictures of attractive people activate the same brain regions as attractive dolls? There could be specific neural pathways involved but hey... maybe you should go on to research about this for your PhD?

 

wow, this is a very interesting thread. me i catch myself just looking @ the dolls for long periods of time. they comfort me somehow, and this could explain that. but then how do you feel about people who are afraid of dolls? (a category i fell into untill introduced to bjds) i used to find looking at them very unsettling. i cant explain the change that overcame me :/ maybe it was the sense of ownership & time invested in my own dolls. i simply dont know. but it is strange the sense of attatchment these particular dolls can cultivate.

 

This is simple to me.

I'm a Peter Pan. I refuse to grow up. Guess what will never grow up? My dolls. Therefore, in the future when I'm older.... my dolls won't be and I'll live through them vicariously.... or something like it.

It represents the part of me that isn't willing to mature and get older.

 

When we covered addiction in my psych class, the teacher taught that pretty much anything that brings someone pleasure can become a mental addiction. It's like how people can be addicted to video games or feel like they can't survive a day without internet access, yet forcing them to go without won't physically hurt them.

I think dolls can definitely be addictive, like any other hobby, simply because they bring pleasure to those who own them. Though how they BECOME an addiction is largely for the reasons already covered in the first post...they're designed to be attractive. I think they're also designed to trigger our protective, nurturing instincts with their (compared to us) small size and (more often than not) young-looking proportions. Most dolls we own look younger than we are, which is probably a deliberate attempt to get us to feel parental (or at least like an older sibling) towards them.

And then there's the matter of MSD and smaller dolls, which almost exclusively take on child-like proportions. They're not even trying to hide it with those, they want you to become their mommies! Or daddies.