laughter

What’s So Funny?

Laughter research has found that only a small percentage of laughter, less than 20%, is a sincere response to someone’s humor. In fact, laughter is primarily a social signal, as opposed to an emotional outburst.

No Laughing Matter

People are 30 times more likely to laugh in a group setting than when they are alone, leading observers to conclude laughter has a primarily social function.

For instance, there’s“polite”laug

hter. How often have you found yourself laughing at someone’s attempt at being funny in order to spare their feelings or make them feel good?

Kings of Comedy

Research has also found that women tend to laugh a good deal more than men. And male speakers tend to elicit more laughter than female speakers.

Laughter may very well be a sign of power dynamics between people, signaling dominance and submission, acceptance and rejection. Certainly, that seems to be the case when someone is laughing at you rather than with you.

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笑容的秘密

对笑容的研究表明只有小部分——不超过20%的笑容是发自肺腑的对于某人幽默的回应。事实上，笑容主要是一种社交讯号，而非感情释放。

非同小可

人们在人群中笑的次数是他们在独处时的30倍甚至更多，使研究人员由此推断笑容首先具有一种社交作用。例如，“礼节性”的笑容。你发现你有多少次对别人试图表现的幽默报之一笑，只是为了照顾他们的情绪或者让他们感觉更好？

喜剧之王

研究还发现女人比男人发笑的次数更多。而男性演说家比女性更倾向于逗人发笑。

笑容是人们之间一个非常好的权力演变信号，代表支配和屈服，接受和拒绝。当然，这似乎出现在当别人嘲笑你而不是和你一起笑的情况下。