Attribute des Lachens

Ein lexikalischer Ansatz

Abstract

Laughter occurs in different social situations, is triggered by different stimuli and can go along with a number of affective states. This variability is largely mirrored in natural language that is used to describe laughter: In a study using a lexical approach, more than 1000 different words used to describe laughter were identified. On the basis of this word list, a classification of formal attributes of laughter was defined. Building on these results, the present study investigates whether or not 20 adjectives describing affective and motivational states and that have been used in previous research can be described on the formal aspects of basic parameter (e.g. duration), intensity, sound, uniqueness and regulation. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on data of 81 participants showed that five clusters could be distinguished. Some of these clusters differed substantially in regard to the formal aspects. The results suggest that the dimensions based on the lexical approach are useful to characterize different kinds of laughter and can be used for future research.