Life Lessons from Laughing Babies and Murderous Philosophers with Dr Caspar Addyman

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1st June 2021

Of all the creatures that crawl the Earth none is seemingly more intelligent, artistic, enquiring or, indeed, happy as we humans are capable of being. And yet each of us starts off on our journey to superherodom as nothing more than a helpless baby. Raising the question, from whence do we develop these great powers? And that’s where developmental psychologist Dr Caspar Addyman comes in.

Yes, this is Dr Addyman, and don't let him tell you any different!

From a decade of studying laughing babies, Dr Addyman has come to the realisation that these power don’t develop despite our humble beginnings as babes in arms but precisely because of that beginning. Those first two years of your life were, Addyman concludes, probably the best two years of your life, but maybe there’s something we can all still learn from them. Join SITP Online on Thursday to discover what.

Anthony Antonio's defence for storming the US Capitol is Fox News made him do it. Can media really influence us to this extent? Join Cambridge Skeptics: Live! tonight to discuss some of the major theories on media influence and find out.

Cambridge Skeptics

Life Lessons from Laughing Babies and Murderous Philosophers

with Dr Caspar Addyman
Thursday, 3rd June 2021 at 7:00pm

twitch.tv/sitp

What is the meaning of life? I once wrote to every philosopher in the UK to ask them. Their answers were meagre and dispiriting. One even included a death threat.

Since then I've moved on to study why babies have such a great time being babies. Anyone who has met a baby knows how much they delight in the world. As a baby scientist, I set out to discover why babies laugh so much more than the rest of us and what it tells us about the human condition.

It turns out that the secret of babies happiness contains lots of wisdom for the rest of us and fits in nicely with the very best answers to the meaning of life.

Caspar Addyman is a lecturer in psychology and director of the InfantLab at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has investigated how babies acquire language, concepts and even a sense of time. His Baby Laughter project has surveyed families all over the world to find out just what causes all those little giggles and he is interested in how laughter helps babies bond and learn. Caspar worked with Grammy winner Imogen Heap to create a song scientifically designed to make babies happy. His popular science book, The Laughing Baby, was published in April 2020.

Useful Links:
www.bbk.ac.uk/news/the-baby-laughter-project

GET THE BOOK

Few things in life are more delightful than sharing in the laughter of a baby. Until now, however, psychologists and parenting experts have largely focused on moments of stress and confusion. Developmental psychologist Caspar Addyman decided to change that.

Since 2012 Caspar has run the Baby Laughter project, collecting data, videos and stories from parents all over the world. This has provided a fascinating window into what babies are learning and how they develop cognitively and emotionally. Deeper than that, he has observed laughter as the purest form of human connection. It creates a bond that parents and infants share as they navigate the challenges of childhood.

Moving chronologically through the first two years of life, The Laughing Baby explores the origin story for our incredible abilities. In the playful daily lives of babies, we find the beginnings of art, science, music and happiness. Our infancy is central to what makes us human, and understanding why babies laugh is key to understanding ourselves.

FIND OUT MORE

Since 2012, I have been studying laughing babies. The question I am most often asked—frequently accompanied by incredulous laughter—is “Why?” And sometimes, “Wouldn’t it be better to study what makes them cry?” Wrote Caspar Addyman for Psychology Today in February.

As a developmental psychologist, I have studied baby laughter for eight years and found the roots of laughter are planted deep by evolution. Wrote Caspar Addyman for the Daily Mail in 2020.

SEE ALSO

Removing the barriers to accessing vaccines goes a long way to tackling vaccine hesitancy - for the rest, people might just need a nudge - writes Wendy Grossman for The Skeptic.

The 1980s saw a rise in belief that Satanic ritual abuse was everywhere - however, the real problems were false memories and moral panic - writes Chris French for The Skeptics.

Anti-vaxxers had a head start when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of the Covid vaccine hesitant - it's time for the rest of us to catch them up - writes Dave Hahn for The Skeptic.

CATCH UP

Join SITP Online guest Prof. Chris French to learn about the Satanic Panic and how to stop it happening again. This event, which was streamed live on 20th May 2021, is now available for catch up on the SitP Online YouTube channel.

Catch up with Cambridge Skeptics: Live! and our discussion on the psychology of conspiracy theories. This event, which was streamed live on 18th May 2021, is now available for catch up on our YouTube channel.

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We are a coalition of UK-based Skeptics groups. Formed as the COVID-19 pandemic brought our country to a standstill, we are working to deliver high-quality online events focusing on Science, reason, and critical thinking. Every Thursday at 7 pm BST, you will find us presenting live-streamed talks, all for free – you don’t even need to create an account. Simply open up twitch.tv/sitp. Take a look at our events, past and future, we’re sure you’ll see a lot of content you will find interesting.

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