Children get their sense of humour from their parents as a study has found babies as young as six months learn to laugh at the same thing as their mothers and fathers.

　　Researchers discovered that between the ages of six months and one year, small children learn what is absurdly funny by watching the reaction of their parents.

　　A study of 30 children carried out by Dr Gina Mireault of Johnson State College and Dr John Sparrow at the University of New Hampshire, in America, involved recording the reaction of babies watching normal and absurd events.

　　The project explored whether 6-month-olds look to their parents for emotional guidance during absurd events, a phenomenon known as 'social referencing'.

　　It is known that eight month old babies look to their parents to establish if a situation is threatening or to be feared but it was not known if social referencing ocurred earlier or in other situations.

　　Other research has found that 18-mon-old babies can make jokes with other toddlers before they can talk by making gestures, noises and shared play.

　　In the latest study, babies watched their parent react naturally to two ordinary events, looking at a picture book and being shown a small red foam ball.

　　The events were then changed so that they became absurd: The open picture book was bounced on the researcher’s head while she said, “Zoop, Zoop” and the foam ball was placed on the researcher’s nose while she poked it and said, “Beep, Beep”.

　　Parents were instructed to either stare at the researcher with an expressionless face or to point and laugh at her.

　　The study found that, although 6-month-old babies stared longer at the absurd events, showing that these were unfamiliar to them, their reactions to the events did not depend on their parents’ reactions.

　　However, babies watched their parents closely when they laughed. The combination of paying close attention to absurd events and to others laughing at those events might explain how babies develop the sophisticated sense of humour they possess at 12 months, the researchers said.

　　By their first birthdays, infants laughed at the absurd events, even when their parents remained expressionless.

　　Dr Mireault said: "By 12 months, infants seem to have had just enough life experience to make up their own minds – at least about what is absurdly funny.”

　　孩子的幽默感是从父母那里习得的，一项研究发现，六月大的婴儿就能学会对父母感到好笑的东西发笑。

　　研究人员发现，在宝宝六月至一岁大时，他能通过观看父母的反应知道什么是荒谬可笑的。

　　约翰森州立学院的吉娜?米瑞奥尔特博士和新罕布什尔大学的约翰?斯派若博士在美国对30个小孩进行了研究，并将这些小孩观看正常和可笑行为的反应记录下来。

　　该项目探讨六月大的婴儿在看到可笑事情时是否向父母寻求情感引导，这种现象叫作“社会参照”。

　　人们知道，八月大的婴儿会观察父母，看情势是否险恶或可怕，但是人们不知道社会参照现象是否在婴儿更小的时候就出现了，或是在其他情况下也会发生。

　　其他研究发现，18月大的婴儿在能通过比手势、发出声音、一起玩游戏来交流之前，就会和其他幼童开玩笑。

　　在一项最新研究中，研究者让婴儿观察自己的父母对两个普通事情的自然反应——让父母和婴儿看一本图画书，然后让他们看一个红色的小泡沫塑料球。

　　接下来事情发生了变化，变得荒谬可笑起来：打开的图画书敲打在研究人员的脑袋上，研究人员还一面叫着“祖扑，祖扑”；泡沫塑料球放在研究人员的鼻子上，她一边戳这个球，一边还叫道“哔扑，哔扑”。

　　按指示，父母们面无表情地盯着研究人员，或者指着她大笑。

　　研究发现，尽管6月大的婴儿盯着可笑事情的时间更长，表现出对这种事情不熟悉，但他们对事情的反应不取决于父母的反应。

　　但是，在父母笑的时候，婴儿会仔细观察自己的父母。研究人员说，婴儿会高度关注可笑的事情，以及他人对这种事情发笑的行为，这也许能解释婴儿为什么会在12月大时产生复杂的幽默感。

　　在婴儿满一岁时，他们会对可笑的事情发笑，即使父母们对此面无表情。

　　米瑞奥尔特博士说：“在婴儿满12月时，他们似乎已经拥有足够的生活经验，能够自己做出决定——至少是能够判断什么事情是荒谬可笑的。”

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