Have you ever found yourself scrolling through Instagram or Twitter when you suddenly encounter a calligraphy video you just can’t stop watching? You don’t know what makes the video so compelling to watch, and yet you let it loop through ten times. You’re not alone. Many people experience this feeling of satisfaction from certain images or videos such as: cake icing, paint mixing, perfectly executed makeup or nails, calligraphy, or pottery making.

Why is is that we find ourselves so fascinated by an image of things fitting perfectly Together?

Or images of things completely devoid of flaws? Like this perfect pancake or this immaculate cake:

Or even pictures of perfect organization?

Many psychologists have theoreticized as to why a certain image or video could actually evoke human emotion such as relief and tranquility. It is believed by some that we as people seek order in a world of chaos, which is why two things fitting perfectly together gives us such relief.

Gillian Roper, a Maryland psychologist believes, “I think in the times in which we live, we are so inundated with so many things, that to be able to bring order to things that don’t necessarily go together, to make them fit, provides some sort of comfort in a world where there’s all sorts of different things coming at you in all different ways,” as quoted in the Atlantic article The Existential Satisfaction of Things Fitting Perfectly Into Other Things.  

Psychologists believe humans also have an instinct to put things in order and find satisfaction in events with a low probability occurring, (like finding a friend in a crowd full of people.) Through watching videos of nails being painted perfectly on the first try or cookies being piped without a single error, the viewer gets part of the satisfaction of actually doing the act. That being said, enjoy these satisfying gifs: