Scientists reveal why suppressing giggles can be so difficult

Most people have experienced it – that awful moment when the urge to laugh bubbles up in the wrong setting.

It might be at an important work meeting, when a friend confides something important or even during a funeral.

Now, experts who have studied the phenomenon have revealed the best way to keep a straight face during inappropriate moments of hilarity.

And they warned that trying to forcibly suppress your facial expressions can actually intensify the urge to chuckle.

‘In situations where laughter is socially inappropriate, failure to regulate it can lead to serious interpersonal or reputational consequences,’ the researchers wrote in the journal Communications Psychology.

‘Laughing during solemn events – for example funerals, serious conversations or disciplinary settings – may violate social norms, undermine the speaker’s message, or be perceived as disrespectful or immature.

‘Such moments can damage reputations, impair professional relationships, and trigger social sanction or embarrassment.

‘Given that laughter is also highly contagious and often involuntary, regulating it—when necessary—becomes not only a matter of self-regulation, but a socially critical skill.’

The team, from the University of Göttingen, ran three experiments with a total of 121 participants.

They used facial electromyography to record tiny muscle reactions involved in smiling and laughter – signals often too subtle to detect with the naked eye – while the participants listened to short jokes.

Throughout the experiment people were told to either focus on a colourful wallpaper as a distraction, suppress their facial expressions or to use a method called reappraisal, which meant reinterpreting the jokes in a less amusing way.

Analysis revealed that the best way to hold back laughter was to use the techniques of suppression and distraction.

However, trying to control your facial expressions can be challenging – as it creates a mismatch between what shows on your face and your internal state.

This can build up – much like a pressure cooker – and eventually lead to laughter spilling out.

‘Suppressing visible emotional reactions in social settings may increase internal stress or discomfort,’ they said.

When another person’s laughter was added into the mix, the ability to suppress facial expressions became noticeably more difficult, the researchers found.

The best way to stop something actually appearing funny is to mentally reframe the situation, the team revealed, as it also reduces the internal experience of amusement.

For example, thinking analytically about why something is amusing can help turn a joke from something funny into a puzzle to solve.

‘Suppression appeared more effective for mildly humorous stimuli but became less successful as perceived funniness increased,’ they said.

‘In line with our expectations, reappraisal – but not suppression – consistently reduced participants’ funniness ratings.’

They added that the ‘presence of another person’s laughter significantly impaired participants’ ability to suppress their own facial responses’.

‘Even these strategies reached their limits in certain social settings,’ Professor Anna Schacht said.

‘Hearing another person laugh made it much harder to control laughter. This just goes to show how strongly our emotional reactions are affected by the presence of others and how deeply humans are social beings.’