.. but Mummy and Daddy make baby laugh equally often

Age

Frequency

020

4060

80

3m 6m 9m 1Y 1;3m 1;6m 1;9m 2Y 2;3m 2;6m

Caspar Addyman (c.addyman@bbk.ac.uk)

An online survey of baby laughter

This paper reports on the findings of the Baby Laughter project (http://babylaughter.net) [1]. A set of online questions for parents of children under 2½ years asked them about things which make their babies laugh. This is a strangely neglected topic in developmental psychology but one which could provide in terest ing new ins ights in to in fant development. By finding out what situations, people and events babies find most amusing and entertaining at different ages, we hope to learn about infants’ social and emotional development.

Background

n  Babies first smile around 1.5 months and first laugh around 3.5 months. But with some individual variation.

n  Most things get funnier with age n  Parents think boys laugh more than girls n  Peekaboo is consistenly popular game but tickling most

reliable way get a baby to laugh n  Maybe Freud was wrong!

Conclusions

References 1.  Addyman, C., & Addyman, I. (2013). The science of baby laughter. Comedy Studies, 4(2), 143–

153. 2.  Gartstein, M. & Rothbart, M., (2003). Studying infant temperament via the Revised Infant

Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 26(1), pp.64–86.

3.  Putnam, S. P., Gartstein, M. A., & Rothbart, M. K. (2006). Measurement of fine-grained aspects of toddler temperament: The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Infant Behavior and Development, 29(3), 386–401

Results

Methods

http://BabyLaughter.net

Participants

Funniest Toys and Games?

What one thing is guaranteed to make your baby laugh?

Data was collected via an online questionnaire that ran from Sept. 2012 – Nov. 2013. Particular questions of interest include: What toys, games, sensations and interactions cause babies to laugh the most? How early does social laughter start? What (in parents views) are the primary causes of laughter in infancy? Parents were given the option to complete a temperament questionnaire: •  Under 1 year -Very Short Infant Behaviour

Questionnaire, [IBQ - Gartstein and Rothbart, 2003],

•  1-2½ years Very Short Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire [ECBQ - Putnam, Garstein and Rothbart, 2006]

Temprament and individual differences

United Kingdom – 753, United States - 366,

Canada - 71, Mexico - 48, Australia - 45, Philippines - 24, Germany - 17, Netherlands - 17, Pakistan - 15, India - 14,

France, Spain, Ireland, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, New Zealand, Argentina, Egypt, Greece, Portugal, Chile, Latvia, Malaysia, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Romania,

Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela,

Bahamas , Bahrain , China , Congo , Czech Republic , Hungary , Kenya , Lesotho , Palestinian Territory , Panama , Peru , Puerto Rico , Qatar , Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , Saudi Arabia , Slovenia ,

South Korea , Sudan , Thailand , Tunisia , Uruguay , Vatican City, Zambia

< 1yr N = 790 > 1yr N = 447

Boys 702 Girls 579 Twins 25

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Response to pleasant sensation

M= 8.84 ± 2.29

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Excitement

M= 8.79 ± 2.1

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Because they are happy

M= 8.46 ± 2.28

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Response to surprise

M= 8.13 ± 2.66

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Copying others

M= 8.46 ± 2.38

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Response to exaggerated action

M= 7.95 ± 2.64

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Bond with caregiver

M= 7.48 ± 2.74

050

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Communication

M= 7.4 ± 2.75

050

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Response to silly/unusual

M= 6.35 ± 3.22

050

100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Knows he/she being naughty

M= 4.7 ± 3.34

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Fear averted

M= 3.95 ± 2.96

010

0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Release tension

M= 3.75 ± 2.83

010

0

Why are babies laughing?

Girls laugh 37 times vs Boys 48.5 times per day t(751) = 2.2544, p = 0.024

(Parents report that..) boys laugh significantly more often per day than girls.

Age of first smile

Months0 2 4 6

020

040

0

M= 1.43 ± 0.93

Age of first laugh

Months0 5 10 15

020

040

0

M= 3.55 ± 1.58

Age of first social smile

Months0 2 4 6 8 12

050

150

250

M= 2.23 ± 1.23

Age of first deliberate smile

Months0 5 10 20

050

100

150

M= 4.13 ± 3.06

Age of first hysterics

Months0 5 10 20

050

100

150

200

M= 5.2 ± 2.58

Neve

r

Once

or tw

ice

Occa

siona

lly

Some

times

Often

Very

often

Alwa

ys

Baby Falling Over

010

0

Neve

r

Once

or tw

ice

Occa

siona

lly

Some

times

Often

Very

often

Alwa

ys

Other People Falling Over

010

0

Infant Schadenfreude?

First S

mile

0.40*** 0.00 0.02 −0.06 0.11 0.02

First L

augh

0.07 0.01 −0.06 0.06 0.03

Laug

hs pe

r day

0.39*** 0.22** −0.01 0.14−

Daily La

ughs

0.35*** 0.08 0.11

Surgen

cy

0.02 0.24**

Negati

ve Affe

ct

−0.11

Effortfu

l Con

trol

First S

mile

0.40*** 0.00 0.02 0.09 −0.02 −0.04

First L

augh

0.07 0.01 0.06 0.01 −0.05

Laug

hs pe

r day

0.39*** 0.38*** −0.02 0.03

Daily La

ughs

0.40*** 0.02 0.11−

Surgen

cy

0.25*** 0.23***

Negati

ve Affe

ct

−0.05

Effortfu

l Con

trol

IBQ

ECBQ

MealBreast −0.13NappyChanging −0.12

MealBottle −0.07EarlyMorning −0.02MealBabyFood 0.01ImitatingBaby 0.03

GettingDressed 0.04BabyFallingOver 0.1FunnyNoises 0.11StrokingBaby 0.11

Breakfast 0.11CountingGames 0.12

MidMorning 0.12Mirrors 0.12

FunnyFaces 0.13LunchTime 0.15

PretendFear 0.16BlowingRaspberries 0.18

HidingObjects 0.19FunnyActions 0.22

BlowingBubbles 0.28BathTime 0.3

PeekabooParentHide 0.31PeekabooBabyHide 0.32WatchingTelevision 0.34

ReadingtoBaby 0.38OthersFallingOver 0.38

TicklingBody 0.39TicklingHands 0.4TicklingToes 0.41

HoldingUpsidedown 0.44RoughAndTumble 0.45

ChasingGames 0.46BangingThings 0.47

MealSolids 0.48PouringWater 0.56

KnockingThingsOver 0.6BuildingThings 0.63

Correlations of age and amusement

N = 262

N = 187