Taking Laughter Seriously – Research Study now LIVE

Taking Laughter Seriously – Research Study now LIVE

Historically, laughter has had difficulty getting onto the research agenda for academic institutions. It has been regarded as a non-serious, even silly subject. Perhaps this is because laughter is so often associated with amusement and what we find funny. It is seen as a joke. We all know how to laugh. Laughter is a universal non-verbal form of communication understood across cultures. Because laughter is all around us it is often under-valued. Many assumptions surround laughter, and these are gradually being investigated. Rigorous research studies will help us test these assumptions, generating new knowledge around laughter.

I have been studying laughter since I interviewed nine members of a monthly laughter club for my Masters dissertation in 2018[1].  What I found was that people had typically been recommended the laughter club by someone who had attended. The initial reaction tended to be one of scepticism. However, as people went to the laughter club themselves, they became more comfortable with the idea of laughing out loud for no reason. They appreciated the benefits, which they described as stress inoculation, restoring mental balance and boosting self-confidence. Gradually, the people I interviewed had become advocates for the benefits of the laughter club and two people had set up laughter clubs of their own.

My curiosity about the power of laughter was piqued. I wanted to discover more about this free, accessible and powerful tool which had been identified during the pandemic as a useful means of boosting wellbeing in those shielding[2].  An important aspect of doing further laughter research for me was to gather more data about people actually laughing. Many studies on laughter use funny film clips to generate laughter. However, what we find amusing is highly personal. What the researcher finds very funny may leave participants cold. Therefore, in my research I decided to bypass humour and go for simple laughter.

My 30-minute online survey on laughter and word puzzles is now live until Easter.

Participants need to be over 18 and have a good level of English (as the word puzzles require a broad English vocabulary). As the study involves people laughing out loud for one minute, consideration needs to be given to where the study is carried out. The link to the study is here and the full link is at the bottom of the article. I am looking for as many participants as I can get as the more data collected, the more meaningful the results may be.

Are you willing to contribute to cutting-edge insights on laughter by participating in a study exploring the science of laughter using laughter and puzzles as part of my postgraduate research? Your help will enhance the understanding of the impact of laughter – all in just 30 minutes.

Thanks for participating. I look forward to sharing my results in due course.

https://run.pavlovia.org/pavlovia/survey-2024.2.0/?surveyId=f5cb49b9-858e-4f91-bda6-da2a03362fc7

[1] Hatchard, A., & Worth, P. (2021). No laughing matter: Qualitative study of the impact of laughter yoga suggests stress inoculation. European Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 5(2), 2397-7116.

[2] Williams, C. Y., Townson, A. T., Kapur, M., Ferreira, A. F., Nunn, R., Galante, J., ... & Usher-Smith, J. A. (2021). Interventions to reduce social isolation and loneliness during COVID-19 physical distancing measures: A rapid systematic review. PloS one, 16(2), e0247139.