Abstract
Ethological data on 141 adult dyads support the hypothesis that the human smile had its origin in the silent bared-teeth submissive grimace of primates and that the facial expression accompanying laughter evolved from the relaxed open-mouth display of play. Affiliative smiling occurred in greeting and departure interactions, whereas frank laughter was almost exclusively seen in a recreational context. Convergence and learning may mask the original distinction, leaving the impression of a continuum of graded signals.
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Lockard, J.S., Fahrenbruch, C.E., Smith, J.L. et al. Smiling and laughter: Different phyletic origins?. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 10, 183–186 (1977). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329317
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329317