The laughter of little babies is entrancing, infections and a surprising key component of their successful development. The baby laughter project surveyed over 1,500 parents of children under 2 ½ years old about their laughing babies. We asked them who and what made their babies laugh, we asked about favourite toys, games and and even asked them to send us videos of the things that made their babies laugh. This allowed us to look at the positive side of infant development which behavioural specialists often overlook. We found that laughter and happiness are even more important in the lives of babies than they are for adults.

1. .. but Mummy and Daddy make
baby laugh equally often
Age
Frequency
020406080
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
interesting new insights into infant
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
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Excitement
M= 8.79 ± 2.1
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Because they are happy
M= 8.46 ± 2.28
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Response to surprise
M= 8.13 ± 2.66
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Copying others
M= 8.46 ± 2.38
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Response to exaggerated action
M= 7.95 ± 2.64
0100
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
050100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Knows he/she being naughty
M= 4.7 ± 3.34
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Fear averted
M= 3.95 ± 2.96
0100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Release tension
M= 3.75 ± 2.83
0100
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
Months
0 2 4 6
0200400
M= 1.43 ± 0.93
Age of first laugh
Months
0 5 10 15
0200400
M= 3.55 ± 1.58
Age of first social smile
Months
0 2 4 6 8 12
050150250
M= 2.23 ± 1.23
Age of first deliberate smile
Months
0 5 10 20
050100150
M= 4.13 ± 3.06
Age of first hysterics
Months
0 5 10 20
050100150200
M= 5.2 ± 2.58
Never
Onceortwice
Occasionally
Sometimes
Often
Veryoften
Always
Baby Falling Over
0100
Never
Onceortwice
Occasionally
Sometimes
Often
Veryoften
Always
Other People Falling Over
0100
Infant Schadenfreude?
FirstSm
ile
0.40*** 0.00 0.02 −0.06 0.11 0.02
FirstLaugh
0.07 0.01 −0.06 0.06 0.03
Laughs
perday
0.39*** 0.22** −0.01 0.14−
D
aily
Laughs
0.35*** 0.08 0.11
Surgency
0.02 0.24**
N
egative
Affect
−0.11
EffortfulC
ontrol
FirstSm
ile
0.40*** 0.00 0.02 0.09 −0.02 −0.04
FirstLaugh
0.07 0.01 0.06 0.01 −0.05
Laughs
perday
0.39*** 0.38*** −0.02 0.03
D
aily
Laughs
0.40*** 0.02 0.11−
Surgency
0.25*** 0.23***
N
egative
Affe
ct
−0.05
Effo
rtfulC
ontrol
IBQ
ECBQ
MealBreast −0.13
NappyChanging −0.12
MealBottle −0.07
EarlyMorning −0.02
MealBabyFood 0.01
ImitatingBaby 0.03
GettingDressed 0.04
BabyFallingOver 0.1
FunnyNoises 0.11
StrokingBaby 0.11
Breakfast 0.11
CountingGames 0.12
MidMorning 0.12
Mirrors 0.12
FunnyFaces 0.13
LunchTime 0.15
PretendFear 0.16
BlowingRaspberries 0.18
HidingObjects 0.19
FunnyActions 0.22
BlowingBubbles 0.28
BathTime 0.3
PeekabooParentHide 0.31
PeekabooBabyHide 0.32
WatchingTelevision 0.34
ReadingtoBaby 0.38
OthersFallingOver 0.38
TicklingBody 0.39
TicklingHands 0.4
TicklingToes 0.41
HoldingUpsidedown 0.44
RoughAndTumble 0.45
ChasingGames 0.46
BangingThings 0.47
MealSolids 0.48
PouringWater 0.56
KnockingThingsOver 0.6
BuildingThings 0.63
Correlations of
age and amusement
N = 262
N = 187