The Ultimate Body Language Book

fun of a sprinter for being slow, is in good fun, and will be well received. However, poking fun at
someone who is rigid or uptight, by including this trait in a joke, it is sure to offend them and while it
might have a leveling effect between two people, it serves no unifying characteristics. In fact, the only
result likely is to outline key differences between people and help others see this disagreement making
everyone involved look bad. Harsh putdowns only serve to disassociate a person from others.
Dr. Terrion of the University of Ottawa who followed a group of police officers through training found
that the development of putdowns followed a rough pattern of progression from putting down oneself,
to putdowns of shared identities or groups, to putdowns of external groups and finally to putdowns of
each other within a group. She also found that officers tended to putdown members of the group that
had higher status, and members tended to poke the most fun at others whom they liked most and that
using putdowns when members were absent was seen as backstabbing so was frowned upon. One of
the cardinal rules of putdown humour, is to only poke fun at people who are present. The study also
showed that members that are willing to laugh at themselves tended to be taken into the group more
readily. Laughing at oneself shows others that we see ourselves as equals and shows that we can be
trusted. Another general putdown rule follows that members that don’t take well to putdowns shouldn’t
be targets because it tends to elicit an uncomfortable feeling within the rest of the group.
Putdown humour, when it is framed properly, indicates belongingness and also a desire by others to
welcome someone in given that all the rules are properly followed. Conversely, a lack of inclusion into
humour, even putdowns, can alienate us just as much as particularly negative humour. The next time
someone pokes fun, roll with it and either laugh heartily or joke back, as humour can help break down
boundaries and create inclusiveness.
Chapter 6 - Smiles and Laughter
The Types Of Laughs And Why Women
Shouldn’t Snort And Grunt
Psychologist Jo-Anne Bachorowski of Vanderbilt University has discovered and tested various types of
laughs. In the research, listeners rated their interest in meeting people with different sounding laughs.
She found some interesting patterns. For example, “unvoiced laughs” such as snorts, grunt and pants
rather than song like laughs such as the characteristics “ha, ha, ha” were seen as less attractive to both
the opposite sex as well as the same sex. Unvoiced laughers, the snorters and grunters as mentioned,
where the worse and even more poorly rated when done by women. However, women who had
songlike laughs were rated as even more attractive.
The research shows us that the quality of the laugh is important in making us appear more or less
attractive to others. Therefore, if interested in impressing others, use a more vocal song-like laugh
rather than a panting or breathing laugh if male, and if female especially avoid snorting and grunting
laughs.
The types of laughs:
High-pitched, song-like (male) 2
High-pitched, song-like (male)
High-pitched, song-like (female) 2
Unvoiced, snort-like and then cackle (male)