70. Laughter Bonds People Together

Laughter Bonds People Together

Slide 2

• "Robert Provine, a neuroscientist, concluded that laughter is an instinctual (not learned) behavior that creates social bonding."
• Weinschenk, S., PH.D. (2011). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People [Kindle].
• pg. 159
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The study showed that laughter is...

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• "Laughter is universal.
• "Laughter is contagious.
• "Laughter is for social communication.
• "Laughter is unconscious.
• Laughter appears early in babies at about four months old.
• Weinschenk, S., PH.D. (2011). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People [Kindle].
• pg 159

Tickle Laughter vs Joy Laughter

• When people heard regular laughing that wasn't associated with tickling, the medial frontal cortex showed activity.
• When people heard laughing that was associated with tickling, the medial frontal cortex fired but the secondary auditory cortex did as well.
• There is a difference in sound with tickle laughter.
• Weinschenk, S., PH.D. (2011). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People [Kindle]. pg. 159

How to apply this to design

• "Most online interactions are asynchronous and therefore don’t afford a lot of opportunity for social bonding through laughing."
• "Synchronous communication online should lead to more bonding if it allows for laughter."
• "You don’t necessarily need humor or jokes to get people to laugh. Normal conversation and interactions will produce more laughter than an intentional use of humor or jokes."
• "If you want people to laugh, then laugh yourself. Laughter is contagious."
• Weinschenk, S., PH.D. (2011). 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People [Kindle]. pg. 159
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