What Does The Way You Laugh Say About You?
Since Kamala Harris entered the presidential race last month, Donald Trump has tested out a variety of attacks on the vice president and Democratic nominee, including questioning her identity as a Black woman and repeatedly misspelling and mispronouncing her first name.
But one of his most often-repeated attacks focuses on her laugh.
“You ever watch her laugh? She’s crazy,” Trump said at a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan,on July 20. “You know, you can tell a lot by a laugh. No, she’s crazy, she’s nuts.”
“That’s the laugh of a crazy person, I will tell you, if you haven’t noticed,” he echoed in Asheville, North Carolina, on Aug. 14. “She’s crazy ... That’s the laugh of a person with some big problems.”
Harris has spoken about her booming laugh and her refusal to “be confined” to others’ expectations for a woman in her position.
“I have my mother’s laugh,” she said during an appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show” in April. “And I grew up around a bunch of women, in particular, who laughed from the belly. They laughed. They would sit around the kitchen, drinking their coffee, telling big stories with big laughs.”
As Harris’ guffaws continue to be the subject of political headlines, many have pointed to the underlying misogyny and racism of these critiques. But they’ve also described how the vice president’s uninhibited laughter exemplifies something else: the power of joy in the face of adversity and opposition.
Can something as seemingly simple as a laugh carry such meaning? We asked experts to explain what different kinds of laughter mean and the cultural perceptions that inform our understanding.
What does our laughter mean?
“People laugh for social reasons, and they laugh when they’re with the right people and in the right mood,” said Sophie Scott, the director of the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, where much of her research has focused on the science of laughter.
“Someone’s laughter is telling you about how they’re feeling, the context that they’re in, the fact that they feel comfortable enough to laugh, the fact that they like the people that they’re with ― or they’re hoping to give the impression that they like the people that they’re with ― and that they’re feeling maybe comfortable and relaxed and they’re not feeling stressed.”
She pointed to research showing that humans are 30 times more likely to laugh when they are with others than when they are alone. Not only do we laugh more when we’re with company, but we also laugh more if we like or love those people.
“Laughter is a form of nonverbal communication,” noted body language expert Patti Wood. “It combines the different body language associated with laughter, such as smiles, open mouths, teeth showing, head back, body bent back, and paralanguage that includes the vocalizations of laughter. Research shows that the more confident and uninhibited you are, the more spontaneous and powerful your laugh is.”
In addition to conveying personality traits like confidence or affability, your laugh might also indicate your social status. Social and personality psychologist Christopher Oveis, who was the lead author of a study on this phenomenon, believes the vice president is a strong example.
“Harris frequently engages in laughs that have all the hallmarks of high-status, dominant laughs,” Oveis said. “Her laughs are loud, voiced, long in duration, and variable in pitch. She does not look at others while she is laughing for cues about when to start and stop laughing. Instead, she usually starts and stops laughing according to her internal states, which is a hallmark of laughter when people feel relatively powerful and at ease.”
Being ridiculed and mocked by laughter is not an experience inside Trump’s comfort zone. His attacks on Kamala’s laughter could actually be based on subliminal fear.body language expert Judi James
Oveis noted that people can audibly show dominance with this sort of louder, longer laughter, just as they do visually with their bodies by assuming more expansive, space-consuming postures.
“Harris does not appear reluctant to take up space with her laughter,” Oveis said. “In the context of the high-status people that I’ve studied, Harris’ laughs are incredibly normal. Most high-status laughs go all over the place acoustically and with the body at the same time.”
Conservative attempts to denigrate Harris on the basis of her laughter reflect another cultural perception many still hold, however.
“We are laughter snobs in business and politics, which is why people will often refrain from anything other than a polite social chortle, and often, that kind of laughter is performed almost silently,” said body language expert Judi James. “Deeper laughter that is not too frequent is often associated with perceptions of power. Anything less restrained or more childlike is often seen as suggesting an immature loss of control. Laughter that is too frequent will also be seen as defining a lightweight or superficial character.”
It’s easy to paint laughter as a “silly” behavior that diminishes the perception of someone’s seriousness. Those who laugh at the end of every utterance might appear to lack authority, for instance, as there’s a sense of apologizing for everything they say. A higher-pitched giggle may have a similar effect.
James emphasized that these perceptions are based on bias and prejudice, not reality.
“The worst type of laughter in terms of social behavior is the fake laugh,” she added. “Polite social laughter is OK when it is restrained, but when someone looks performative, putting on an exaggerated laugh, they can be seen as untrustworthy and fake.”
How is laughter perceived differently for men and women?
Cultural bias and prejudice certainly play into the perception of laughter from women. Indeed, women tend to be more harshly judged than men when it comes to the way they display emotion. Hillary Clinton also faced criticism forherlaugh.
“I think if you want to dislike somebody, attacking their laughter is quite an easy thing to do because you can just sort of place your own interpretation on it,” Scott said. “Because humans do use laughter in a complex way, you can simply choose to interpret their laughter as meaning something else. So I think that’s one of the things that’s going on with Donald Trump’s attacks on the way that Kamala Harris laughs.”
Historically, women’s laughter has been more restricted by cultural norms compared to men.positive psychology lecturer Ros Ben-Moshe
Although you could perceive the way the Democratic nominee laughs frequently, loudly and playfully as a sign of confidence and comfort, you could also take this out of context and adopt a different view.
“You could say, as Donald Trump seems to be doing, that somehow she’s fundamentally unserious,” Scott explained. “Look at her laughing. What’s going on there? There’s no reason to laugh.”
Uninhibited laughter runs counter to traditional expectations for women to be more submissive and quiet, as well.
“Historically, women’s laughter has been more restricted by cultural norms compared to men. It was often viewed as inappropriate or even vulgar to laugh out loud, even as a sign of sexual promiscuity,” said Ros Ben-Moshe, a positive psychology lecturer and author of “The Laughter Effect – How to Build Joy, Resilience and Positivity in Your Life.”
“This has led to a perception that women should be more restrained in their expressions of joy, whereas men’s laughter is often seen as a sign of confidence and charisma,” she added. “In many Eastern cultures, women traditionally cover their mouths when laughing, a practice that to a lesser extent can still be seen today.”
Trump’s suggestion that the vice president’s laughter indicates she’s “crazy” also plays into society’s long history of sexist critiques of women as “hysterical” ― not to mention the stigma against mental health issues.
But Harris’ penchant for laughing might actually be a strength for the presidential candidate.
“By attacking her laughter, Trump attempts to belittle and diminish her, suggesting a lack of seriousness or intelligence,” Ben-Moshe explained. “However, Kamala Harris’s laughter, especially in public, is a genuine display of her human side ― a trait that should be celebrated, not undermined.”
She added that laughing can unnerve people, which is perhaps why some political commentators have suggested that Harris’ laughter might even be a “secret weapon.” Chuckling in the face of an adversary tends to take away their power.
“Being ridiculed and mocked by laughter is not an experience inside Trump’s comfort zone,” James said. “His attacks on Kamala’s laughter could actually be based on subliminal fear. His problem is if Kamala’s ‘cackling’ laughter becomes a contagious rallying cry to the public. If he can’t isolate it and ridicule it, it could end up ridiculing him.”
What’s happening in the body when we laugh?
“Laughter is more like a different way of breathing than it is a different way of speaking. It happens when you get these big contractions of the intercostal muscles, and it’s a social behavior,” Scott said.
She noted that laughter seems to have roots in an older mammal play behavior.
“It’s a vocalization indicating playful intentions,” Scott explained. “We laugh to show that we are being playful, that our intentions [are] playful. And we also laugh for lots of different kinds of social and communicative reasons. We’ll laugh to show that we are affiliated with somebody, but we’ll also laugh to show that we like them and we will laugh to show that we agree with them and we understand them.”
Research shows that the more confident and uninhibited you are, the more spontaneous and powerful your laugh is.body language expert Patti Wood
Humans use laughter in many different ways, including as a nervous response or as a way to deal with stress. The act of laughing can strengthen social bonds as well.
“What happens in the body when we laugh is that you do get some physiological changes,” Scott said. “There’s a reduction in adrenaline. You are less stressed, so you’re more relaxed.”
When people laugh, they can experience a reduction in cortisol and burst of endorphins, making them feel extra good inside.
“Laughter has also been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce muscle tension, which makes it a powerful anti-stress agent, and even just a moment of laughter in a tense situation can allow us to think more clearly and creatively,” said clinical psychologist Natalie Dattilo-Ryan. “Because it can strengthen a sense of social cohesion, it can help put others at ease or feel closer to us. Perhaps most importantly from a psychological perspective, in groups, laughter signals safety and trust and can help us co-regulate intense emotions like stress, anxiety, and anger.”
What does it mean when someone doesn’t seem to laugh?
“As Maya Angelou famously said, ‘I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh,’” Ben-Moshe noted. “The ability to laugh is typically innate and can be seen in infants as young as five weeks old. Laughter is a fundamental way of connecting with others and fostering attachment. When someone rarely laughs, it might indicate a deficit in early emotional attachment or a reluctance to engage with others on an emotional level.”
Over the years, many have observed that Trumpisrarelyseenlaughing.
“There are a couple of cases of him laughing because someone was being rude about someone he didn’t like, but it’s true he often makes people laugh without himself ever laughing,” Scott said. “I think there’s a power or control element he’s going for. He often pulls quite the opposite of a smile but a kind of really downturned face ― looking quite like Mussolini.”
The notion that infrequent laughter can be associated with control and power might also explain why men tend to laugh less than women do. But a totally laughter-free existence is not a healthy one, argued Sarah Routman, an instructor in the practice of laughter yoga.
“There’s an Irish proverb that says a good laugh and a long sleep are the two best things you can do for yourself, and I totally believe that,” she said. “When you have a good laugh, you feel so refreshed and on top of the world. People who don’t laugh are likely dealing with a lot of stress and holding it in all the time. They probably don’t know how to have fun. And that chronic stress can cause a lot of problems.”
Routman also highlighted the role of laughter in fostering a sense of trust between people.
“There’s some science that suggests if you make eye contact and share laughter with another person, you are much more likely to share honest things about yourself ― whether you are laughing with a stranger or a friend,” Routman said. “That means that laughter builds trust, which is important for everybody. We know that relationships are healthier when we have laughter and trust. And it’s interesting thinking of how that relates to politics and whether we trust our political leaders.”
Whether the perceived meaning of laughter has the power to swing the presidential election has yet to be seen, but in the meantime, the Republican nominee’s “Laughing Kamala” attacks continue to mount.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance has notably derided Democrats who don’t have biological children as “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives.” But it’s hard to reconcile that notion of misery with images of Harris’ joyful guffaws.
You might even say the very idea is laughable.
