Dear Dr. Debbie,
At what age do babies develop a sense of humor? I don’t remember when my two older children had their first belly laughs, but this third little one giggles and guffaws, mostly at her siblings, and she’s only three-months-old.
What’s So Funny?
Dear W.S.F.,
Infant laughter is the subject of ongoing international research. Seriously. Gina Mireault has been studying it for a couple of decades at the University of Vermont. Other than quotes from literary greats such as Shakespeare and Twain, she found that “humor was largely neglected as if too frivolous for scientific attention.” She and her colleagues set out to find out, “how do babies know what’s funny?”.
Novelty
Mireault’s investigations concurred with other researchers that, “infants come equipped with some simple expectations about how objects behave.” For example, her experimenter rolls a spongey ball on the table – in this situation the ball and the experimenter are acting in expected ways, according a baby’s vast life experience, or perhaps some inborn sensibility. Then the experimenter squishes the ball onto his nose and it stays there – which is absurd. No matter that the accompanying parent has been told to remain emotionless, all 30 five-month-olds that were in the study found this to be hilarious.
It’s as if by five-months a baby has already grasped one of the rules of comedy. Something can make us laugh, according to the Humor Research Lab at the University of Colorado, if it “threatens one’s beliefs about how the world should be” and doesn’t seem to cause any harm.
Connection
Laughter is most often shared in a loving relationship, notes other researchers. Caspar Addyman, of the University of London designs baby laughter experiments in the Birbeck Babylab, he interviews parents, and he looks for trends in baby laughter on social media. He observes that laughter is “a way of connecting to the people we’re with” and that the connection starts from the very beginning with eye contact and studying the faces of parents and other close family members.
Around the world, reports Addyman, babies will laugh at something the other person is doing, which gets them to do it again. Laughter, therefore, is part of a communication exchange. (Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child would classify this as a Serve and Return interaction.) Prime examples are the back and forth game of Peek-a-boo, and the 2015 viral social media trend of ripping a piece of paper. Hysterical, agree all the world’s babies, no matter what language it’s performed in.
Anyone who has had the pleasure of making a baby laugh will agree that a baby’s giggle is an automatic mood lifter. In turn – guaranteeing the survival of the species – that good feeling makes you want to hang around the baby. The professional journal Neuropsychopharmacology reported on a study in which women who had never been pregnant were administered oxytocin via a nasal spray. (A control group was given a placebo.) Brain activity for each woman was monitored with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Upon hearing infant laughter there was reduced activity in the amygdalae – the fear and anxiety area of the brain, for all of the women. In other words, their stress level dropped. This effect was more powerful in those who had inhaled some oxytocin, but nonetheless, the sound of a baby’s laughter activated neural reward circuits (including natural oxytocin) which, in a family, is likely to support the caregiving relationship. Oxytocin is often called the “love hormone” since it is released during moments of close connection with our loved ones. Babies’ laughter, it can be concluded, helps with attachment relationships.
Stages of Humor
There appear to be common stages of appreciating humor which go along with a baby’s cognitive and social-emotional milestones. As with all milestones, individual babies’ timelines may differ:
- 0–3 Months (Reflexive):Simple smiles which seem to be related to comfort rather than amusement.
- 3–5 Months (Responsive Laughter):Laughter is in response to a pleasing interaction such as blowing raspberries or peek-a-boo.
- 5–6 Months (Detection of Absurdity): Babies begin to detect absurdity such as the noise produced by ripping paper, or seeing a parent (or sibling) wear a cup as a hat.
- 6 Months and beyond (Intentional and Social): Laughing keeps an enjoyable interaction going. Laughing is also a demonstration of bonding with a loved one, as when sharing a “funny” picture book together.
So, why do babies laugh? A Navajo belief is that a baby’s first laugh is a sign that the baby is ready to let go of the spirit world and fully join the community. A party is held with gifts for everyone “from the baby” to signify the baby’s new role as a contributing member.
Laughter connects us to each other.
Dr. Debbie
Write your question to Dr. Debbie! Please include age(s) of your child(ren) and other details about the situation or concern.
Deborah Wood, Ph.D. is a child development specialist and founding director of Chesapeake Children’s Museum, located at 25 Silopanna Road in Annapolis. Online reservations are available or call: 410-990-1993. Walk-ins are welcome. There is a Nature Walk on Thursdays at 10:30 am. Art and Story Time with Mrs. Spears and Puppy the Puppet is on Mondays at 10:30 am. On February 16, Story Time will be combined with a Chinese New Year Celebration starting at 10 am.
Dr. Wood is presenting a series of Zoom workshops on Wednesday evenings for parents and other caregivers of young children: Effective Discipline for Preschoolers on February 25, “I Had it First!” Teaching Preschoolers Conflict Resolution on March 11, and Stress with Children on March 25. All workshops are from 7-9 pm.
