Have you seen the meme about children laughing more than adults? We wanted to find out if it was true, and if so then... why?

There is nothing quite as magical as when your baby first laughs, and laughing together is a wonderful part of family life – we're all for having more laughter in our lives! But we also like to check our facts, so when we see a meme we can’t help but look for the science behind the claims. 

Laughter might be on your mind now as your child masters the skill of showing their sense of humour. Have you seen this quote before?  

"Babies and kids can laugh up to 300 times a day. Adults typically laugh at most about 20 times a day. Time to get more in touch with that inner child and really enjoy life like the little ones." 

We saw it and thought it was worth investigating, so we did. We couldn’t find research which backed up this quote. 

Yes, it's cute, and in this case light-hearted and no real harm, but what do we know about smiles and laughter? 

• People are more likely to laugh when they are interacting with other people than when they are alone.^[1] 
• One study recorded people interacting with their friends and found an average of around 35 incidences of laughter in an hour.^[2] 
• There seems to be quite a wide range for when babies first laugh.^[3] 
• Children laugh at different things as they develop. At first, they are likely to laugh at actions, then at words, funny stories or jokes.^[4] 

Research about laughter is quite limited, but it is clear laughter is an important part of social interaction. 

Enjoying your child’s laughter and jokes will support you to build your relationship with them – and don’t forget to find time to laugh with your friends too!  

Reference: 

[1] Scott, S.K., Lavan, N., Chen, S., & McGettigan, C. (2014). The social life of laughter. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 18(12), 618-620.  

[2] Provine, R.R. & Fischer, K.R. (1989) Laughing, smiling, and talking: Relation to sleeping and social context in humans. Ethology. International Journal of Behavioural Biology, 83(4), 295-305.  

[3] Addyman, C. & Addyman, I. (2013). The science of baby laughter. Comedy Studies, 4(2), 143-153.  

[4] Hoicka, E., Telli, B.S., Prouten, E., Leckie, G., Browne, W.J., Mireault, G., & Fox, C. (2022). The early humor survey (EHs): A reliable parent-report measure of humor development for 1- to 47- month-olds. Behavior Research Methods, 54, 1928-1953.