Self-deception inhibits laughter

• Published in: Personality and individual differences Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 491 - 495
• Main Authors: Lynch, Robert F., Trivers, Robert L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Angles; Biological and medical sciences; Facial action coding system; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humor; Humour; Laughter; Personality. Affectivity; Preferences; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Self representation; Self-deception; Signals; Suppressed; Self-deception; Laughter; Facial action coding system; Humor; Human; Self perception; Facial expression
• ISSN: 0191-8869; 1873-3549
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.02.017

► We score individuals on a self-deception questionnaire (SDQ). ► We measure individual’s laughter (facial expressions) in response to comedy. ► Individuals who score low on the SDQ laugh more than those who score high. ► We argue that self-deception serves to disguise ones beliefs and inhibits laughter. How does self-deception affect the appreciation of humor and laughter? Fifty-nine undergraduates at Rutgers University (33 females, 26 males) were videotaped while watching a stand-up comedian for 28min. Positive emotional expressions associated with laughter were analyzed for short sections of the act (total: 8min or 14,400 video frames) and were scored for each subject using the facial action coding system (FACS). Participants who scored lower on a self-deception questionnaire (low self-deceivers) laughed significantly longer and more intensely than those who scored higher on the questionnaire (high self-deceivers). This was true when corrected for measures of impression management, extraversion, mood and how much a person laughs in their everyday life. If self-deception evolved to deceive others and laughter is a hard to fake signal of preferences, then suppressed laughter by self-deceptive individuals may serve to mask ones preferences. More generally since humor often involves seeing life or a person from a novel angle and self-deception tends to reduce such angles, self-deception will naturally tend to reduce ones sense of humor.