When we laugh with our friends, our laughter is more natural and authentic than in the company of our partner.
- Laughter is the most recognizable expression of a positive emotion.
- It usually appears around the age of four months in most infants.
Everyone loves to joke around with their loved ones. But according to scientists at the University of Baltimore (United States), our laughter differs depending on the person with whom we are. A few seconds of laughter would let you know the state of the relationship. To achieve this discovery, they carried out a study published in the journal Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.
A nicer sound
“Spontaneous laughter and voluntary laughter are expressed using distinct production systems. Perceivers rely on cues related to these systems to make an accurate judgment of relationship status. Yet, to our knowledge, no empirical study examined whether evaluators can differentiate between laughter directed at friends and partners and the cues that enable this accuracy”, can we read in the searches.
As part of this work, the researchers recorded 52 different laughs during calls made by 27 people to a friend of the same sex or to their lover. The recordings were then listened to by 50 students. They must have identified the caller on the other end of the line. According to the results, laughter produced in the presence of friends had a more pleasant sound than those directed at a partner. Students said the “friendly laughter” was more spontaneous and natural.
love makes you vulnerable
In a second experiment, the authors asked 252 adults to listen to the 52 previously recorded laughs. According to listeners, when we laugh with our friends, our laughter is warmer and louder. According to the team, we will feel more vulnerable and less free in the company of our lover.
“Future studies should consider the variety of acoustic characteristics of laughter such as pitch, perhaps even through artificial manipulation, to see how they affect different perceptions of laughter in romantic and non-romantic contexts,” concluded the researchers.
