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Emotional Expression of Amusement

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The origin of the study of emotional expression is often attributed to Charles Darwin[1]. In 1872, Darwin published his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, in which he extensively describes his observations of how people and animals display emotions on their faces and through sound[2]. Darwin comments on amusement as an emotion of great joy during which a person is likely to laugh. He also notes that across all peoples humans can laugh until they are panting and tears roll down their cheeks. In the 1960s, Paul Ekman, an American Psychologist, revived the study of emotional expression proposing, like Darwin, that emotions were universally recognizable[3]. His early work focused on six basic emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear, disgust and surprise[4]. By the 1990s, he had expanded this list to include several additional emotions, one of which was amusement[5]. Displays of amusement have been distinguished from related emotions like embarrassment and shame[6]. More recent studies have confirmed that laughter is a distinct signal of amusement and is recognizable across cultures[7][8][9].

Amusement Facial Expressions

Facial Expression

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An amused facial expression typically has these characteristics[10]:

  • Head: Thrown back with jaw lifted
  • Eyes: Crow's feet at the eyes indicating that the muscles have tightened
  • Mouth: Open, jaw dropped with relaxed muscles


Vocal Burst

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The expression of amusement is usually accompanied by genuine laughter. The experience of laughter changes our breathing patten and often causes all our muscles to relax[10].

Cultural Considerations

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As a positive, high arousal emotion, amusement falls in the same category as excitement and exhilaration. These emotions are highly valued in American culture where positive feelings that high in energy are seen as ideal. In contrast, East Asian cultures value positive, low arousal emotions such as contentment, calm and peacefulness[11].

Clinical Uses

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Emotion Regulation

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Emotion regulation is the term for how people attempt to influence - increasing, decreasing, maintaining or changing - how, when and where they experience emotion[12]. Through changing how they think about a target of amusement, like a funny video clip, people are able to increase and decrease how much amusement they feel, express in smiles and laughs and experience in their bodies (e.g. increased heart rate and respiration)[13]. Choosing to increase or prolong experiences of positive emotion is one way in which people can learn to cope when faced with challenges and develop resilience[14].

Resilience

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As a positive emotion, amusement contributes to the development of resilience in both children[15] and adults[16]. Positive emotions help people build social resources that foster their ability to cope during hard times[17]. Increases in resilience lead to higher life satisfaction and general happiness[18]. Studies of positive emotion typically include measures of amusement, but do not assess for its unique impact by differentiating between the effects of discrete positive emotions like gratitude, love and compassion.

Laughter Therapy

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Rapidly growing in popularity, laughter therapy, or humor therapy, focuses on promoting laughter as a therapeutic tool[19]. Usually implemented in a group, laughter therapy uses a variety of gag jokes like red noses and magic tricks to encourage laughter - fake or real. Laughter causes the bodies' muscles to relax which increases blood flow and oxygen intake[20]. Proposed benefits include: Stress management, relaxation, improved mental functions, improved digestion and pain relief. Some suggest that laughter activates similar brain wave frequencies as a meditative state[21]. However, scientific studies of these benefits are limited and have methodological issues[22].

  1. ^ Keltner, D., Tracy, J. L., Sauter, D. A., Cordaro, D. C. & McNeil, G. (2016). "Expression of Emotion". In Barrett, L. F., Lewis, M. & Haviland-Jones, J. M. Eds., Handbook of Emotions. 4th: 467–482.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Darwin, Charles (1872/1998). The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals (3 ed.). London: Harper Collins. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Ekman, Paul (1989). "The argument and evidence about universals in facial expressions". Handbook of social psychophysiology: 143–164.
  4. ^ Ekman, P., Sorenson, E. R., & Friesen, W. V. (1969). "Pan-cultural elements in facial displays of emotion". Science. 164 (3875): 86–88.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Ekman, P., & Rosenberg, E. L. (Eds.). (1997). What the face reveals: Basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Oxford University Press, USA.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Keltner, Dacher (1995). "Signs of appeasement: Evidence for the distinct displays of embarrassment, amusement, and shame". Journal of personality and social psychology. 68 (3): 441–454.
  7. ^ Simon-Thomas, E. R., Keltner, D. J., Sauter, D., Sinicropi-Yao, L., & Abramson, A. (2009). "The voice conveys specific emotions: evidence from vocal burst displays". Emotion. 9(6), 838. (6): 838–846.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Laukka, P., Elfenbein, H. A., Söder, N., Nordström, H., Althoff, J., Chui, W., ... & Thingujam, N. S. (2013). "Cross-cultural decoding of positive and negative non-linguistic emotion vocalizations". Frontiers in Psychology,. 4: 353.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Sauter, D. A., Eisner, F., Ekman, P., & Scott, S. K. (2010). (2010). "Cross-cultural recognition of basic emotions through nonverbal emotional vocalizations". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 107 (6): 2408–2412.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ a b "Emotional Intelligence Quiz". Greater Good Science Center. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  11. ^ Tsai, Jeanne L. (2007). "Ideal affect: Cultural causes and behavioral consequences". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2 (3): 242–259.
  12. ^ Gross, James J. (1998). "The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review". Review of general psychology. 2 (3): 271–299.
  13. ^ Giuliani, N. R., McRae, K., & Gross, J. J. (2008). "The up-and down-regulation of amusement: experiential, behavioral, and autonomic consequences". Emotion. 8 (5): 714–719.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Tugade, M. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2007). "Regulation of positive emotions: Emotion regulation strategies that promote resilience". Journal of Happiness Studies. 8 (3): 311–333.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Bai, S., & Repetti, R. L. (2015). "Short‐term resilience processes in the family". Family relations. 64 (1): 108–119.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ Fredrickson, B. L., Tugade, M. M., Waugh, C. E., & Larkin, G. R. (2003). "What good are positive emotions in crisis? A prospective study of resilience and emotions following the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001". Journal of personality and social psychology. 84 (2): 365–376.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Tugade, M. M., Fredrickson, B. L., & Feldman Barrett, L. (2004). (2004). "Psychological resilience and positive emotional granularity: Examining the benefits of positive emotions on coping and health". Journal of personality. 72 (6): 1161–1190.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Cohn, Michael A.; Fredrickson, Barbara L.; Brown, Stephanie L.; Mikels, Joseph A.; Conway, Anne M. (2009). "Happiness Unpacked: Positive Emotions Increase Life Satisfaction by Building Resilience". Emotion (Washington, D.C.). 9 (3): 361–368. doi:10.1037/a0015952. ISSN 1528-3542. PMC 3126102. PMID 19485613.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link)
  19. ^ Burbank, Luke. "The Growing Popularity of Laughter Therapy". NPR.org. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  20. ^ "Laughter Therapy". Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  21. ^ Eckelkamp, Stephanie. "Laughter Therapy is the New Meditation". Time.com. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  22. ^ Martin, R. A. (2001). "Humor, laughter, and physical health: Methodological issues and research findings". Psychological Bulletin. 127 (4): 504–519.
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