Are you laughing with me or at me? Psychopathic traits and the ability to distinguish between affiliation and dominance laughter cues

Objective Laughter conveys important information that supports social communication and bonding. Research suggests that unique acoustic properties distinguish laughter that promotes affiliation from laughter that conveys dominance, but little is known about potential individual differences in laughter interpretation or contagion based on these specified social functions of laughter. Psychopathy is associated with both affiliative deficits (e.g., lack of empathy and impaired social bonding) and behaviors that assert social dominance (e.g., manipulativeness). Thus, relationships between psychopathic traits and impaired laughter interpretation or contagion could give insight into etiological pathways to psychopathy. Method In two studies conducted with four independent samples (total N = 770), participants categorized laughter clips that varied in the degree of affiliation or dominance conveyed. Results Participants overall drew rich and accurate social inferences from dominant and affiliative laughter and modulated their interest in joining in with laughter based on the type and degree of affiliation and dominance conveyed. However, individuals higher in psychopathic traits failed to distinguish between laughter types and did not modulate their level of engagement based on laughter features. Conclusions The results suggest a potential mechanism that underlies the broader social difficulties associated with psychopathic traits.