Project description DEENESFRITPL The bonding power of laughter Why do people laugh together while being around good friends? Why do infants laugh when playing with their caregivers? What are the biological mechanisms, functions, and social role of laughing? Also, why is laughing so contagious? Those questions remain unanswered. To fill this knowledge gap, the EU-funded LaughingTogether project will explain the functional mechanisms of laughing together in adults and children. Using a developmental social neuroscience approach in combination with behavioural, autonomic, and neural measures, the project will bring a new understanding on the role of laughter in a social context through the human life course. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Humans start laughing very early in their life, in response to tickle, play, or humor. Laughter is contagious, and seems to play an important role in bonding: Laughing together makes people feel closer to each other and facilitates cooperation. However, despite its pervasiveness and significance in human life, a deep understanding of the function of laughter and the mechanisms linking it to bonding, is still lacking. Being a positively valenced, rhythmic audiovisual social signal, laughter possesses all the necessary characteristics to induce interpersonal synchrony between people. Interpersonal synchrony facilitates cooperative action and increases affiliation, rapport and prosocial behavior. Thus, it might be the core mechanism making laughter an effective bonding tool. Such a mechanism might be in place from early on in the course of human development and play an important role in establishing the first important peer relationships in early childhood.This project aims at unveiling the functional mechanisms of laughing together, using a developmental social neuroscience approach and combining behavioral, autonomic and neural measures to investigate social laughter in adults and children. The results will clarify the role of laughter in social interactions, and pave the way for new lines of research and applications. Fields of science social sciencespsychologybehavioural psychologysocial sciencespsychologysocial psychologysocial sciencespsychologycognitive psychology Keywords laughter interpersonal synchrony bonding cooperation preschool fNIRS Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator UNIVERSITAT WIEN Net EU contribution € 174 167,04 Address UNIVERSITATSRING 1 1010 Wien Austria See on map Region Ostösterreich Wien Wien Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 174 167,04
