Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers.
Humans deploy a number of specific behaviours for forming social bonds, one of which is laughter. However, two questions have not yet been investigated with respect to laughter: (1) Does laughter increase the sense of bonding to those with whom we laugh? and (2) Does laughter facilitate prosocial ge...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256229 |
| _version_ | 1819004014058012672 |
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| author | R I M Dunbar Anna Frangou Felix Grainger Eiluned Pearce |
| author_facet | R I M Dunbar Anna Frangou Felix Grainger Eiluned Pearce |
| author_sort | R I M Dunbar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Humans deploy a number of specific behaviours for forming social bonds, one of which is laughter. However, two questions have not yet been investigated with respect to laughter: (1) Does laughter increase the sense of bonding to those with whom we laugh? and (2) Does laughter facilitate prosocial generosity? Using changes in pain threshold as a proxy for endorphin upregulation in the brain and a standard economic game (the Dictator Game) as an assay of prosociality, we show that laughter does trigger the endorphin system and, through that, seems to enhance social bonding, but it does not reliably influence donations to others. This suggests that social bonding and prosociality may operate via different mechanisms, or on different time scales, and relate to different functional objectives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T23:30:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9b101022c96f4abdb42503959b956979 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T23:30:09Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-9b101022c96f4abdb42503959b9569792022-12-21T19:23:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01168e025622910.1371/journal.pone.0256229Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers.R I M DunbarAnna FrangouFelix GraingerEiluned PearceHumans deploy a number of specific behaviours for forming social bonds, one of which is laughter. However, two questions have not yet been investigated with respect to laughter: (1) Does laughter increase the sense of bonding to those with whom we laugh? and (2) Does laughter facilitate prosocial generosity? Using changes in pain threshold as a proxy for endorphin upregulation in the brain and a standard economic game (the Dictator Game) as an assay of prosociality, we show that laughter does trigger the endorphin system and, through that, seems to enhance social bonding, but it does not reliably influence donations to others. This suggests that social bonding and prosociality may operate via different mechanisms, or on different time scales, and relate to different functional objectives.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256229 |
| spellingShingle | R I M Dunbar Anna Frangou Felix Grainger Eiluned Pearce Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers. PLoS ONE |
| title | Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers. |
| title_full | Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers. |
| title_fullStr | Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers. |
| title_short | Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers. |
| title_sort | laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256229 |
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