Of course, that's not the only description for true belly laughter; as you might guess, we all laugh differently. In a study conducted by Vanderbilt University, researchers found that men are more likely to grunt or snort at something they find funny, while women let loose with giggles and chuckles."
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"Chuckles, snorts and belly laughs
Of course, not all laughs are the same. We all recognize a laugh when we hear it, but some are chortles, some chuckles, some guffaws and some snorts. Go to the Web site of Jo-Anne Bachorowski, PhD, and you can hear examples of them all. Bachorowski, a psychology professor at Vanderbilt University, has begun to expand on Provine's work by teasing out the differences between varieties of laughs and what those differences might mean.
In a 2001 study published in Psychological Science (Vol. 12, No. 3, pages 252-257) she and her colleagues asked college students to rate 50 taped examples of male and female laughter. The examples ranged from "voiced" laughter with an almost song-like "hahaha" or "hehehe," to "unvoiced" laughter that sounded more like a snort.
The researchers found that both male and female listeners responded much more positively to the voiced laughter than to the unvoiced laughter: They enjoyed listening to it more, said it sounded friendlier and were more likely to express interest in meeting the laugher.
These positive reactions, Bachorowski says, hint at the evolutionary purpose of laughter. We use laughter, she posits, to elicit positive reactions from other people and to communicate to them that we mean them no harm.
"Humans rely on cooperative behavior with nonkin to an extent that isn't seen in other species," she says. "But humans are also inherently competitive. So the idea is that we had to evolve some means that let others know we feel positively towards them."
Laughter, she says, is that means. But not just any laughter.
She and her colleagues believe that voiced laughter is a much more reliable indicator of a person's positive mood than unvoiced laughter. In other words, a person laughing "hahaha" probably really is happy and nonaggressive. A snorter, though, you just can't be sure about."
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Laughter in everyday life: an event-based experience sampling method study using wrist-worn wearables
Stefan Stieger
Abstract
Laughter is a universal, nonverbal vocal expression of broad significance for humans. Interestingly, rather little is known about how often we laugh and how laughter is associated with our personality. In a large, event-based, experience sampling method study (N = 52; k = 9,261 assessments) using wrist-worn wearables and a physical analogue scale, we analyzed belly laughs and fit of laughter events in participants’ everyday life for 4 weeks. Additionally, we assessed associations with laughter frequency such as personality, happiness, life satisfaction, gelotophobia (i.e., fear of being laughed at), and cheerfulness. Validating our new measurement approach (i.e., wearables, physical analogue scale), laughter events elicited higher happiness ratings compared to reference assessments, as expected. On average, participants reported 2.5 belly laughs per day and on every fourth day a fit of laughter. As expected, participants who were happier and more satisfied with their life laughed more frequently than unhappier, unsatisfied participants. Women and younger participants laughed significantly more than men and older participants. Regarding personality, laughter frequency was positively associated with openness and conscientiousness. No significant association was found for gelotophobia, and results for cheerfulness and related concepts were mixed. By using state-of-the-art statistical methods (i.e., recurrent event regression) for the event-based, multi-level data on laughter, we could replicate past results on laughing.
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Laughter in everyday life: an event-based experience sampling method study using wrist-worn wearables
Stefan Stieger
Abstract
Laughter is a universal, nonverbal vocal expression of broad significance for humans. Interestingly, rather little is known about how often we laugh and how laughter is associated with our personality. In a large, event-based, experience sampling method study (N = 52; k = 9,261 assessments) using wrist-worn wearables and a physical analogue scale, we analyzed belly laughs and fit of laughter events in participants’ everyday life for 4 weeks. Additionally, we assessed associations with laughter frequency such as personality, happiness, life satisfaction, gelotophobia (i.e., fear of being laughed at), and cheerfulness. Validating our new measurement approach (i.e., wearables, physical analogue scale), laughter events elicited higher happiness ratings compared to reference assessments, as expected. On average, participants reported 2.5 belly laughs per day and on every fourth day a fit of laughter. As expected, participants who were happier and more satisfied with their life laughed more frequently than unhappier, unsatisfied participants. Women and younger participants laughed significantly more than men and older participants. Regarding personality, laughter frequency was positively associated with openness and conscientiousness. No significant association was found for gelotophobia, and results for cheerfulness and related concepts were mixed. By using state-of-the-art statistical methods (i.e., recurrent event regression) for the event-based, multi-level data on laughter, we could replicate past results on laughing.
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