Sense Of Humor: Babies Learn To Laugh From Us
We all learned the sense of humor from our parents. This process begins at 6 months of age. At this point, babies become aware of their parents’ emotional reactions, such as laughter.
If the father of a 6 month old shows some indifference to a certain event, the baby will likely show it too. On the other hand, if the parents laugh out loud, the babies will be fascinated and do the same.
A study by the British Psychological Association (BPS to German: British Psychological Association ), which was conducted by a team of experts, shows that a baby at the age of 6 months can not always decide whether something is fun or not. Therefore, it is based on the reaction of its parents, and what is most fascinating: it copies them.
This is how the sense of humor develops
Experts, including Gina Mireault of Johnson State College and John Sparrow of the University of New Hampshire, chose babies between 6 and 12 months to develop this test. All children took part in the experiment with their parents. The researchers showed them strange and absurd scenes that made their parents laugh.
The babies watched the funny scenes with a touch of indifference, then turned to their parents or looked up when they laughed and looked into their faces. When they saw a laugh there, the babies began to laugh too.
This is how the sense of humor develops, the researchers say. Babies between 6 and 12 months of age looked for their parents’ reaction in what is known as a “social reference”.
Doctors discovered that the babies ‘reactions after six months depended in some ways on the parents’ reactions, especially when they were laughing.
Whereas babies from one year old showed their own sense of humor. These children no longer looked for their parents’ reactions. They watched the strange situation carefully and began to laugh.
The researchers concluded that the sense of humor is not inherited, but learned. Neither the typical laughter of babies nor the bad mood are innate. In reality, parents have to deal with all of this a lot as a baby mimics their emotions.
Laughter is important for your children’s development
To many, humor seems like a frivolous subject, but it isn’t. In fact, it is a very interesting and serious tool for understanding infant development and what their social benchmarks are.
In this way, parents become an important source for the researchers in this study from which babies can extract emotional information. They are also an exceptional tool for understanding children’s emotional and social development.
This raises a few questions, such as: Why then can brothers be so different? Why are you happy one day and very serious another? According to experts, the answer is: good mood is not inherited, but learned, but temperament itself is innate and in turn depends on other factors such as personality, self-esteem and character.
Doctors believe that there are many benefits to living a life of good humor. Those who are in a good mood attract positive situations and people. She also develops empathy in a child and helps him deal with other children.
A good mood and laughter increase the child’s confidence. It promotes his intelligence and helps him to cope with difficult situations faster. So try to have a positive charisma in front of your child so that they can imitate the best of you, especially because you are their emotional guide in the first few months of life.
