Laughter in young children.

Research studies of laughter in children are reviewed, and a model describing eliciting conditions for laughter and related behavior is described. Following Spencer (1860), Berlyne (I960), and others, it is proposed that laughter occurs after conditions of heightened tension or arousal when at the same time there is a judgment that the situation is safe or inconsequential. The special case of laughter to discrepant or incongruous stimulation is described in detail, and it is suggested that laughter serves the function of signaling to a caretaker that a given stimulus is within the child's tolerable limits of arousal.

[1]  R. Emde,et al.  Neonatal smiling and rapid eye movement states. , 1969, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry.

[2]  Development of interpersonal smiling responses in the preschool years. , 1949, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[3]  J. Watson.  Memory and "contingency analysis" in infant learning. , 1967 .

[4]  M. O'shea.  First Steps in Mental Growth. , 1906 .

[5]  J. Church.  Three babies; biographies of cognitive development , 1966 .

[6]  S. Kreitler,et al.  Dependence of Laughter on Cognitive Strategies. , 1970 .

[7]  E. N. Solokov.  Perception and the conditioned reflex , 1963 .

[8]  M. Lewis,et al.  PERCEPTUAL‐COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY: A GENERALIZED EXPECTANCY MODEL AS A FUNCTION OF THE MOTHER‐INFANT INTERACTION1 , 1968 .

[9]  C. Leuba.  Tickling and Laughter: Two Genetic Studies , 1941 .

[10]  R. W. Washburn.  A study of the smiling and laughing of infants in the first year of life. , 1929 .

[11]  S. Fiske,et al.  The Handbook of Social Psychology , 1935 .

[12]  Thomas R. Shultz,et al.  The role of incongruity and resolution in children's appreciation of cartoon humor , 1972 .

[13]  R. Langevin.  Chapter 6 – Physiological Correlates of Humor , 1972 .

[14]  A. Ambrose,et al.  THE AGE OF ONSET OF AMBIVALENCE IN EARLY INFANCY: INDICATIONS FROM THE STUDY OF LAUGHING. , 1963, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[15]  L. Sroufe,et al.  The development of laughter in the first year of life. , 1972, Child development.

[16]  P. Mcghee.  Development of the humor response: A review of the literature. , 1971 .

[17]  E. Erikson.  Identity, youth, and crisis , 1968 .

[18]  J. Campos,et al.  Affect, verbalization, and directional fractionation of autonomic responses. , 2008, Psychophysiology.

[19]  R. Davis.  Response patterns. , 1957, Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[20]  R. Spitz.  The smiling response: a contribution to the ontogenesis of social relations. , 1946 .

[21]  E. Zigler,et al.  Cognitive challenge as a factor in children's humor appreciation. , 1967, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[22]  J. Bruner.  The course of cognitive growth. , 1964 .

[23]  Arnold J. Sameroff,et al.  Can conditioned responses be established in the newborn infant: 1971? , 1971 .

[24]  Jerome Kagan,et al.  Change and continuity in infancy , 1971 .

[25]  S. Freud,et al.  Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious , 1905 .

[26]  P. Knapp.  Expression of the emotions in man , 1963 .

[27]  M. Godkewitsch,et al.  Chapter 7 – The Relationship between Arousal Potential and Funniness of Jokes , 1972 .

[28]  P. Salapatek,et al.  Patterns of Fear Development During Infancy. , 1970 .

[29]  C. Darwin.  The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , .

[30]  D. Hebb.  Drives and the C.N.S. (conceptual nervous system). , 1955, Psychological review.

[31]  R. H. Walters,et al.  The Role of the Distance Receptors in the Development of Social Responsiveness , 1965 .

[32]  E. Zigler,et al.  Cognitive processes in the development of children's appreciation of humor. , 1966, Child development.

[33]  A Study of the Laughing and Smiling of Preschool Children , 1932 .

[34]  J. Holt.  How Children Learn , 1967 .

[35]  S. Schachter.  The Psychology Of Affiliation , 1959 .

[36]  A study of laughter-situations among young children , 1931 .

[37]  D. Hebb,et al.  On the nature of fear. , 1946, Psychological review.

[38]  A. Koestler.  The Act of Creation , 1964 .

[39]  T. Shultz,et al.  Smiling in children as a function of their sense of mastery. , 1971, Journal of experimental child psychology.

[40]  H. Spencer.  The Physiology of Laughter. , 1875, Essays: Scientific, Political and Speculative.

[41]  S. Schachter.  The Interaction of Cognitive and Physiological Determinants of Emotional State , 1964 .

[42]  Florence Justin.  A genetic study of laughter-provoking stimuli , 1932 .