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...
| Κύριοι συγγραφείς: | , , , |
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| Μορφή: | Journal article |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Έκδοση: |
Public Library of Science
2021
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| _version_ | 1826306664010088448 |
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| author | Dunbar, RIM Frangou, A Grainger, F Pearce, E |
| author_facet | Dunbar, RIM Frangou, A Grainger, F Pearce, E |
| author_sort | Dunbar, RIM |
| collection | OXFORD |
| 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 | 2024-03-07T06:51:23Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:fcacad01-ece7-48ce-bcda-fbc8e6c71c11 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:51:23Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:fcacad01-ece7-48ce-bcda-fbc8e6c71c112022-03-27T13:22:40ZLaughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangersJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:fcacad01-ece7-48ce-bcda-fbc8e6c71c11EnglishSymplectic ElementsPublic Library of Science2021Dunbar, RIMFrangou, AGrainger, FPearce, EHumans 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. |
| spellingShingle | Dunbar, RIM Frangou, A Grainger, F Pearce, E Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers |
| 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 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dunbarrim laughterinfluencessocialbondingbutnotprosocialgenerositytofriendsandstrangers AT frangoua laughterinfluencessocialbondingbutnotprosocialgenerositytofriendsandstrangers AT graingerf laughterinfluencessocialbondingbutnotprosocialgenerositytofriendsandstrangers AT pearcee laughterinfluencessocialbondingbutnotprosocialgenerositytofriendsandstrangers |