Laughter in the selection interview: impression management or honest signal?

ABSTRACT

Laughter has been rarely investigated in the selection interview, but its involuntary and prosocial nature makes it a potential candidate for an honest signal of affiliation or a form of ingratiation. We investigated the distribution of laughter among participants, its relation to interview transitions and to applicant impression management and recruiter evaluations in a sample of real selection interviews. Applicants laughed more often than recruiters, and women laughed more often than men. Applicants were more likely to laugh close to transitions between phases of the interview. Applicant participation in shared laughter episodes was unrelated to self-reported impression management tactics (both honest and deceptive) and to recruiter perceptions of applicant self-promotion, but was positively related to recruiter perceptions of applicant transparency/honesty and to hiring recommendations. Unilateral applicant laughter was negatively related to recruiter perceptions of applicant self-promotion, honesty/transparency and hiring recommendations. Results suggest that applicant participation in shared laughter episodes may constitute an honest (difficult-to-fake) signal of affiliation.

KEYWORDS:

• Selection interview
• laughter
• shared laughter
• hiring recommendations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.