Life lessons from laughing babies
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Dr Caspar Addyman is a developmental psychologist and director of the Goldsmiths InfantLab, a unit set up to study how babies and toddlers perceive the world around them.
Caspar’s first non-fiction book, The Laughing Baby, is published on 16 April by Unbound, bringing together a decade of research into laughter and happiness from birth to childhood. We spoke to him ahead of the launch:
Sarah Cox: What’s The Laughing Baby about?
Caspar Addyman: It’s a popular science book about why babies have so much fun being babies. It’s about all the things they learn in the first two years of life and why they have a great time doing it. Friends and family help babies learn but we’re also a great big mystery in ourselves. Laughter helps babies connect to and cope with the wonderful world they’ve just joined.
SC: How did the Baby Laughter research project start, and why you think that studying and understanding laughter in a child’s early years is so important?
CA: Back in 2011 I was a baby scientist, my brother was a comedian, and my sister had just had a baby. I suggested my brother make the baby laugh and I would explain why. That jokey suggestion planted a serious idea and so I surveyed parents all over the world to find out more about baby laughter. I watched a lot of laughing baby videos. I ran studies in the lab (with varying success). I learned that laughter and positive emotions play a central role in many aspects of early human development. It turns out it would take a book to list them all.
SC: Your work explores why babies are so happy. How can adults be more like babies?
CA: That’s a great question. Ultimately, I think babies laugh more than adults because they are happier and there are definitely things we learn from them. Their two big secrets are authentic relationships and constant challenges. Babies are deeply loved by their families but they have a disarming quality that gets the best out of everyone. Babies don’t hold anything back because they don’t know how, and they are genuinely interested in anyone who takes the time to interact with them. We can certainly learn from that.
Additionally, research on adult happiness has found greater life satisfaction in people who are always learning new skills or making small improvements to their daily routines. These are little victories that add up to a deep sense of wellbeing. Laughing babies bear this out, many of their squeals of delight come as they gain mastery of a new skill.
My TEDx talk from Bratislava 2017 has more Life Lessons from Laughing Babies.
SC: You took the slightly unconventional route for an academic publishing their first research-focused book by fundraising with Unbound, achieving 215% funding. Why do you think this worked so well?
CA: I wanted to write an accessible rather than academic book but when I took the book to mainstream publishers they didn’t get it. Was this a joke book for babies? Was it a new approach to parenting? I knew from public lectures and meeting many new parents that there was a real interest in the science of early life and who can resist laughing babies? So Unbound’s crowdfunding approach was perfect for me.
The idea is that if an author can persuade enough readers to buy the book in advance of publication that covers the costs of production and proves there’s a market. It was hard work but I am hugely grateful to all the people who supported the project and then waited patiently for me to finish writing the book. We got to 215% thanks to particularly generous support from Pampers and musician Imogen Heap - both of whom I had collaborated with previously - and from my mother, who always believes in me.
SC: What are some of the funniest baby laughter reports or moments from your research in lab or in public surveys?
CA: I am grateful to all the families who have shared their laughter with me over the years. On my website, I keep collections of laughing babies videos and some of the memorable laughs they’ve sent me. If you need your spirits lifting I can recommend them.
SC: What's up next for your research?
CA: I have two projects underway at the moment. One, inspired by my colleague Dr Guido Orgs, looks at the physical synchrony between parents and babies as they play. The second being run by PhD student, Zehra Karademir, will measure how babies’ dancing changes as they grow to like songs.
Writing the book was hard work but I’m hoping that part of the payoff will be in interesting new collaborations. In the meantime, I hope people will continue to send me videos and short “field reports” of their laughing babies.
The Laughing Baby by Dr Caspar Addyman is published in the UK by Unbound on Thursday 16 April and in the US on May 19. It is available to order in hardcover or Kindle via Amazon