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. 2021 Aug 13;16(8):e0256229.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256229. eCollection 2021.

Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers

R I M Dunbar  1 , Anna Frangou  2 , Felix Grainger  1 , Eiluned Pearce  1   3
Affiliations

Laughter influences social bonding but not prosocial generosity to friends and strangers

R I M Dunbar et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1
Mean (±se) (a) laughter rate (number of 15-sec scans on which subject was audibly laughing), (b) change in positive affect score and (c) change in negative affect score, for men (unfilled symbols) and women (filled symbols) in Experiment 1.
Fig 2
Fig 2
Mean±se (a) Change in pain threshold and (b) total donations, for men (unfilled symbols) and women (filled symbols) in Experiment 1.
Fig 3
Fig 3
Mean±se ratio of (a) donation to friend divided by donation to self and (b) donation to stranger divided by donation to friend, for men (unfilled symbols) and women (filled symbols) in Experiment 1.
Fig 4
Fig 4
Mean±se (a) frequency of laughter (number of laughs given) and (b) change in pain threshold, for men (unfilled symbols) and women (filled symbols) in Experiment 2.
Fig 5
Fig 5
Mean±se (a) change IOS score (with respect to rest of experimental group) and (b) donation, for men (unfilled symbols) and women (filled symbols) in Experiment 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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