Question

psychologists gregory bryant, dora amir, and colleagues investigated cross - cultural perceptions of spontaneous (real) laughter and volitional (fake or forced) laughter. study participants from 21 societies, including those in austria and turkey, listened to randomized recordings of 18 spontaneous laughs taken from natural conversations between pairs of women and 18 volitional laughs produced separately by 18 different women in response to an experimenters instruction to laugh. analysis of the participants evaluations of the laughs prompted the team to conclude that the ability to distinguish between spontaneous and volitional laughter appears to be universal across cultures. which quotation from a psychologist not involved in the teams study would most directly weaken the teams conclusion? a \when an individual chooses to produce volitional laughter in a natural social context, the laughter often shares certain acoustic qualities, such as pitch and fluctuation of intensity, with spontaneous laughter.\ b \although the team considered the average size of communities in each society in the study, that demographic factor was found to have no effect on listeners identifications of laughter as spontaneous or volitional.\ c \judgments of spontaneous laughter are often associated with acoustic features such as greater intensity variability and higher pitch.\ d
ecent studies in communications have shown that certain acoustic features of spontaneous laughter such as pitch and intensity variability are often associated with higher pitch.\

Explanation:

The team's conclusion is that the ability to distinguish between spontaneous and volitional laughter is universal across cultures. Option A suggests that when an individual chooses to produce volitional laughter in a natural social context, it shares certain acoustic qualities with spontaneous laughter. This means that the distinction might not be as clear - cut as the team concludes, thus weakening their conclusion. Options B, C, and D do not directly challenge the universality of the ability to distinguish between the two types of laughter.

Answer:

A. "When an individual chooses to produce volitional laughter in a natural social context, the laughter often shares certain acoustic qualities, such as pitch and fluctuation of intensity, with spontaneous laughter."