People who are not infected by other people’s laughter, why is that?

William James once said that rather than laughing because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh. To this reasoning, the father of American psychology should have added that happiness also lies in laughing with other loved ones. However, and here comes the important fact, There are people who are not infected by other people’s laughter…

For what is this? There are those who, in moments of relaxation in a group with friends or family, rarely let out a simple smile when others are bursting with laughter. This is still something striking, since, As neuroscience tells us, the brain is programmed to be infected by the laughter of others. and thus strengthen social ties.

What’s more, few experiences are more intense and healthy than the contagion of this type of emotions. After all, the Contagious laughter releases a large number of endorphins in the thalamus, in the caudate nucleus and the anterior insula. The subsequent feeling of well-being is incomparable and highly rewarding.

What then happens to those men and women who barely react to these common situations in our daily lives? We analyze it.

There are studies that have analyzed children who did not react to social laughter. The cause could be psychopathy.

This is the cause

Laughter spreads like the most effective of viruses. This is something that psychology has always known, but it was not until just a few decades ago that we were able to understand its mechanisms. We knew, for example, that laughing with other people strengthens ties, allowing us to foster emotional connection. And we sensed that only a few figures around us did not experience this peculiarity.

Is there something wrong with them? Some neurological dysfunction, perhaps? Well, the truth is that it was not until 2017 when science gave us an answer. Curiously, that same year two studies were published on the subject and both provided us with very relevant information to understand the mysteries (and peculiarities) of laughter. We analyze them.

Endogenous opioids in our brain… Do you have them?

Dr. Sandra Manninen, from the Turku PET research center in Finland, together with researchers from the University of Oxford, carried out work that was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Something they were able to see after performing several brain scans on a large sample of volunteers is that Social laughter releases endogenous opioids.

These opioids are nothing more than our beloved endorphins. That is to say, the experience of laughing with other people is something so cathartic, addictive and comforting, that it even relieves pain or stress.

Likewise, it was also discovered that There are those who have a greater number of receptors for this type of endogenous opioids, and this translates into greater ease in catching social laughter.

On the other hand, those with fewer receptors will react less to other people’s laughter and will not enjoy these situations as much…

Psychopathy and people who are not infected by other people’s laughter

Currently, we do not have any instrument that can assess whether or not a child shows psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder. It is usually in adulthood when we can make more reliable diagnoses. However, in childhood and adolescence we can appreciate certain traits and behaviors that can give us clues…

In fact, University College London published a study in the journal Current Biology in which they determined something striking. Children who are at risk of developing psychopathy are an example of those people who are not infected by other people’s laughter.

In adulthood this trait is not always as visible as in childhood, because many times they limit themselves to mimicking, imitating others to go unnoticed. Now, why don’t they become infected with social laughter? ¿Why doesn’t the 8, 10 or 11 year old child who tomorrow will be a psychopathic adult laugh when others do? These are usually the causes:

Social laughter requires the activation of areas linked to social reciprocity, empathy, emotional resonance or the desire for affiliation. These structures hardly show any activity in the brain of a psychopath.Children with psychopathic traits showed less stimulation in the anterior insula. This structure is key in emotional processing. Furthermore, these children showed less empathy, and they do not usually react to genuine laughter and laughter. It doesn’t catch their attention.

Enjoying the laughter of others, catching the laughter of others is an exercise that promotes social connection and well-being.

It is very possible that more than one person thinks that if there is one type of person who is not infected by other people’s laughter, it is people with autism, but no. This is not always the case, and there are no conclusive studies on the subject. Because Children and adults who are on the autism spectrum do make emotional connectionsthey have empathy and can, in some cases, react to social laughter.

However, If there is a type of psychological profile with more seriously altered socio-emotional brain networks, it is psychopaths.. This means that they do not catch the laughter of friends, and that they do not react to the joy of family members, co-workers or partners.

Their insensitive traits prevent them from enjoying the most beautiful and transcendent things in human beings, such as empathy and emotional attachment.

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