title: Laughing, grooming, and pub science.
abstract: On the basis of naturalistic observations of people conversing and laughing in pubs, a new study suggests that the 'grooming-at-a-distance' of laughter provides a three-fold increase in grooming group size, potentially explaining how hominins evolved social groups that are considerably larger than those of other primates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland 21250, USA. provine@umbc.edu
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Provine
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006120:Grooming / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007845:Laughter / Q000523:psychology*; D011323:Primates; D012919:Social Behavior