title: Laughing matters: Infant humor in the context of parental affect.
abstract: Smiling and laughing appear very early during the first year of life, but little is known about how infants come to appraise a stimulus as humorous. This short-term longitudinal study explored infant humor perception from 5 to 7 months of age as a function of parental affect during an absurd event. Using a within-participants design, parents alternated smiling/laughing with emotional neutrality while acting absurdly toward their infants. Group comparisons showed that infants (N = 37) at all ages smiled at the event regardless of parental affect but did so significantly longer at 5 and 6 months, and more often and sooner at 7 months, when parents provided humor cues. Similarly, sequential analyses revealed that after gazing at the event, 7-month-olds were more likely to smile at it only when parents provided humor cues and were comparatively more likely to look away when parents were neutral. Thus, starting at 5 months of age, parental affect influenced infants' affect toward an absurd event, an effect that was magnified at 7 months. These results are discussed in the context of emotional contagion, regulation, and the emergence of social referencing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences, Johnson State College, Johnson, VT 05656, USA. Electronic address: gina.mireault@jsc.edu.
authors.forename: Gina C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Mireault
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
authors.forename: Susan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Crockenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire-Manchester, Manchester, NH 03101, USA.
authors.forename: John E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sparrow
authors.affiliation: Johnson State College, Johnson, VT 05656, USA.
authors.forename: Kassandra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cousineau
authors.affiliation: Johnson State College, Johnson, VT 05656, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pettinato
authors.affiliation: Johnson State College, Johnson, VT 05656, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Woodard
mesh_terms: D000339:Affect; D003463:Cues; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007845:Laughter / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Emotional development; Infant humor; Laughter; Positive affect; Smiling; Social cognition; Social referencing