If you do n't possess Piers Morgan 's interrogation skills , making someone laugh may encourage them to spill their secrets . Researchers claim that sharing a few chuckles makes people more willing to tell others something personal about themselves , without necessarily being aware that they are doing so . The act of verbally opening up to someone is a crucial building block that helps to form new relationships and intensify social bonds . Laughing with a stranger ( illustrated with a stock image ) makes us more likely to open up and tell others something personal about ourselves , which encourages bonds of friendship , a new study claims . Such self-disclosure can be of a highly sensitive nature - like sharing one 's religious convictions or personal fears - or a superficial scrap of information such as a favourite type of food . Alan Gray of University College London ( UCL ) set out to investigate the role and influence of laughter in this disclosure process . Together with his colleagues , he observed the behaviour of 112 students from Oxford University , who did not known each other and were divided into groups of four . They watched a 10-minute video together , without chatting to one another . The videos were designed to invoke different amounts of laughter as well as the amount of positive feelings or emotions they elicited . Participants watched different videos including a clip of comedian Michael MacIntyre ( pictured ) to encourage them to laugh . One , for example , featured a stand-up comedy routine by Michael McIntyre , while another was a golf instruction video and a third , an excerpt from a nature documentary . After the volunteers watched the chosen video , the levels of laughter and their emotional state was measured . Each group member also had to write a message to another participant to help them get to know each other better . The researchers found that participants who had a good laugh together shared significantly more intimate information than the groups who did not watch the comedy routine . Mr Gray suggests this is not merely because it is a positive experience , but because of the physiology behind laughter , which triggers the release of the so-called ‘ happy hormone ’ endorphin . The findings , published in Springer 's journal Human Nature , support the idea that laughter encourages people to make more intimate disclosures to strangers . Scientists believe that the person who disclosed information , was seldom aware of what they had done , and it was only the listener who realised it had happened . ‘ This seems to be in line with the notion that laughter is linked specifically to fostering behaviors that encourage relationship development , since observer ratings of disclosure may be more important for relationship development than how much one feels one is disclosing , ’ Mr Gray said . ‘ These results suggest that laughter should be a serious topic for those interested in the development of social relationships. ’ A recent study has revealed that playfulness comes high on the list of desirable attributes in a long-term partner . Experts say that a sense of fun is more important to many people than whether someone has a degree or is religious . Research by the University of Zurich revealed that playfulness is important to both sexes – just behind friendliness , intelligence and a sense of humour . Play to win hearts : A new study has revealed that playfulness comes high on the list of desirable attributes in a partner ( illustrated with a stock image ) - just behind friendliness , intelligence and a sense of humour . They also found that naturally playful people deem humour , a laid back attitude and creativity more important in partners than their more serious peers . They described playful adults as those having a love of wordplay who enjoy teasing , people who are spontaneous and will take on a challenge lightheartedly and those who play the fool , for example . Reserachers asked asked 327 young adults from Germany , Switzerland and Austria to examine a list of 16 characteristics and indicate whether or not they found them desirable in a potential long-term partner . The results showed that men and women largely agreed in their orders of preference , although there were differences in individual ratings . For example , women found a sense of humour more important than men and men found an exciting personality more important than women . Friendliness , intelligence , humour and a fun tendency came at the top of the list . Playfulness ranked mid-table , although not all that far behind the favourites . ‘ Therefore , this personality trait also seems important for the choice of partner – at least more so that the partner having a degree , good genes or being religious , ’ said Dr René Proyer .
Act of verbally opening up to someone helps form friendships . University College London explored the effect using video clips . The researchers found that people who were open about their feelings, and had a positive attitude towards others, tended to have more friends than those with an uncaring or negative view on other people.