[Positive] Teasing is playful banter. To quote Jane McGonigal from ``Reality is Broken'': > Teasing each other, recent scientific research has shown, is one of the > fastest and most effective ways to intensify our positive feelings for each > other. Dacher Keltner, a leading researcher of prosocial emotions at the > University of California, has conducted experiments on the psychological > benefits of teasing, and he believes that teasing plays an invaluable role in > helping us form and maintain positive relationships. > > ``The tease is like a social vaccine,'' Keltner explains. ``It stimulates the > recipient's emotional system.'' Teasingly trash-talking allows us to provoke > each other's negative emotions in a very mild way---we stimulate a very small > amount of anger or hurt or embarrassment. This tiny provocation has two > powerful effects. First, it confirms trust: the person doing the teasing is > demonstrating the capacity to hurt, but simultaneously showing that the > intention is not to hurt. Just like a dog might play-bite another dog to show > that it wants to be friends, we bare our teeth to each other in order to > remind each other that we could, but never really would, hurt each other. > Conversely, by allowing someone else to tease us, we confirm our willingness > to be in a vulnerable position. We are actively demonstrating our trust in the > other person's regard for our emotional well-being.