London: If you want someone to open up to you, just make them laugh.Sharing a few good giggles and chuckles makes people more willing to tell others something personal about themselves, without even necessarily being aware that they are doing so, finds a new study.

Such self-disclosure can be of a highly sensitive nature - like sharing one's religious convictions or personal fears - or a superficial titbit such as one's favourite type of food.These are among the findings of the study from University College London (UCL) and published in the journal Human Nature."This seems to be in line with the notion that laughter is linked specifically to fostering behaviours that encourage relationship development, since observer ratings of disclosure may be more important for relationship development than how much one feels one is disclosing," said lead researcher Alan Gray of UCL.