Impact of humor‐related communication elements in natural dyadic interactions on interpersonal physiological synchrony

• Published in: Psychophysiology 2019-04, Vol.56 (4), p.e13320-n/a
• Main Authors: Lackner, Helmut K., Feyaerts, Kurt, Rominger, Christian, Oben, Bert, Schwerdtfeger, Andreas, Papousek, Ilona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Cognitive ability; Communication; corpus linguistics; dyadic interactions; Electrocardiography; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; interactive alignment; interpersonal physiology; Interpersonal Relations; Male; physiological synchrony; Physiology; Psycholinguistics; Synchronization; Verbal Behavior - physiology; Wit and Humor as Topic; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0048-5772; 1469-8986; 1540-5958
• DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13320

Evidence suggests that in dyadic conversations some alignment occurs at the physiological level, but relatively little is known about the conditions that may facilitate physiological synchrony of two interlocutors. In the present interdisciplinary study, the impact of specific linguistic features of ongoing dialogues—the use of humor‐related communication elements—was examined in 24 male dyads who were meeting for the first time. Heart rate synchrony was quantified using phase synchronization, which reflects the degree of moment‐to‐moment adjustments that occur between the two persons of a dyad. Comical hypotheticals and verbal amplifiers were identified and quantified using cognitive‐linguistic methods of corpus analysis. Additionally, smiles following these communication elements were identified using the Facial Action Coding System. The data showed that the heart rate time series of the two interlocutors were to some extent synchronized in phase, and that the magnitude of this synchronization exceeded what had to be expected by chance. The strength of heart rate synchrony in a dyad was the higher the more comical hypotheticals were produced, independently from how much the two conversation partners were in sum talking to each other. A similar observation was made for verbal amplifiers, but their effect depended on whether they were perceived (and acknowledged by a smile) as humorous. The findings are in line with the more general notion that physiological synchrony may be enhanced by shared experience and suggest that the use of (reciprocated) humor may speed up the building of rapport among communication partners. Little is known about the conditions that facilitate physiological synchrony of two interlocutors. In this study, the impact of specific linguistic features of ongoing dialogues—the use of humor‐related communication elements—was examined. In view of the importance that is attached to the magnitude of interpersonal physiological synchrony in terms of states of relationships, the findings suggest that the use of (reciprocated) humor may speed up the building of rapport among communication partners. The process might be profitably employed in encounters where the fast establishment of a good communication basis is desirable, for instance, in psychotherapy or in collaborative teams.