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Asked by monkey1111 to Alan, Caspar, Diana, Murray, Sarah on 21 Mar 2011.
Question: why do we laugh?
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Alan Winfield answered on 19 Mar 2011:
Good question! Well the famous psychologist Arthur Koestler suggested we laugh when we hear a joke because the way a joke works is that it takes you down one line of thinking, then suddenly switches to a different line of thinking (the punch line). If the two lines of thinking don’t connect at all – in other words the connection is absurd – then it seems the physiological reaction is to laugh. In a book called ‘The Act of Creation’ Koestler suggested that creating a brand new idea is very similar to a joke – except that the two previously unconnected lines of thought actually do make sense. He summed it up brilliantly by writing that there’s very little difference between ‘Ah ha!’ and ‘Hah hah’.
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Caspar Addyman answered on 21 Mar 2011:
A good question. Amazingly, no-one really knows for certain. Laughter seems to be an important form of communication and social bonding. people very rarely laugh when they are on their own and yet when we are together we are laughing almost all the time. And mostly we aren’t laughing at jokes but laughing because we are enjoying being with our friends. A psychologist once sat in a university cafeteria evesdropping on people to see why they laughed only about 10% of the laughter was caused by actual jokes… the rest was just a positive reaction to friends comments. (Even when watching a professional comedian, much of our laughter is because they are being charismatic and likeable rather than because of the jokes.)
Like a smile a laugh can be reassuring and can let you share something with a friend. And that shared idea is also an important part of humour. A lot of jokes work because you are expecting one thing and then you hear another and you and the person telling the joke both know that what they said was silly. That instant recognition and understanding is a big part of the flash that causes us to burst into laughter. That why they say that if you have to explain a joke it won’t be funny.
Then in the meantime, lots more things are funny to little children because everything is so new and exciting for them. (At least the things they understand like poo and people falling over.. shakespearean comedy and political satire are somewhat wasted on the under tens.)
And then what about babies? why do i make babies laugh? Well, I can’t ask them what they know or what they think about but if i can make them laugh I know that they must have got the joke, whatever it was. So by figuring out what things make babies laugh, I can figure out what they understand about the world.
there is another answer here. http://ias.im/35.204
That wasn’t a very funny answer was it?
Here’s a psychology joke from Jay Leno..
“A Canadian psychologist is selling a video that teaches you how to test your dog’s IQ. Here’s how it works. if you spend $12.99 for the video, your dog is smarter than you.And here’s a childhood joke from Jimmy Carr
When I was a kid, I told my mother I wanted to grow and be a comedian. She said ‘You can’t do both’ -
Sarah Thomas answered on 21 Mar 2011:
I’m expecting a brilliant answer from Casper on this one so I will leave my answer blank since he is the expert!! 😀
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Diana Drennan answered on 21 Mar 2011:
We laugh because it’s funny ! Laughing seems to be universal – every culture laughs. There are theories that laughing is a subconscious recognition “oh yeah, I’ve done that” or “oh yeah, I get that”. In which case, there would be an evolutionary reasons for it as it would help aid communication that we have similar experiences and are in the same group. Laughing with rather than laughing at. Humor can also be when something is unexpected or incongruous. You laugh when a teacher shows up in costume because its not the normal thing to do – again by signaling that you recognize it’s not normal advertises your inclusion in a group.
It’s also a lot of fun and has all sorts of good effects on our physiology including lowering blood pressure, reducing stress, and boosting the immune system.
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Murray Collins answered on 21 Mar 2011:
Hi, thanks for the question!
Well, I reckon we could think about this in a similar way to the question as to why we cry when we’re sad, another question which I’ve answered here http://ias.im/35.275, and which I discussed with an evolutionary perspective. I am going to borrow much of that answer, since I think it directly helps us answer the question of why we laugh.
Humans are very social animals with very complex social interactions. Today, language allows us to communicate our feelings and intentions (but also mask them by lying) extremely effectively. However, in our evolutionary past we have not always had such well-developed language.
If we look at other extant (still existing) apes apart from ourselves, we humans are the only ones that communicate with complex languages, so complex language is a derived trait amongst the apes. All the other apes communicate with relatively much more simple vocalisations, which include grunts and panting during play. And so this is probably how our last common ancestor communicated (our evolutionary grandparents that we share with chimpanzees, gorillas and orang utans).
As complex social animals, the more successful groups would have been those which had the strongest bonds between individuals. The strongest bonds would have been formed between those individuals that had better communication and conflict resolution abilities (making up after fights), since there are inevitably tensions between individuals in any group (think about you and your friends, and your family). As with the panting in chimpanzees, laughter probably developed as a way to ease tension between individuals and allow co-operation and form social bonds. Just think, you feel a lot more relaxed with someone when you laugh together, eventually you may become friends with that person. So I think the short answer to your question would be that in the past, right up until now, laughter has been a form of communication that allows humans to ease tensions in our groups, resolve conflict and share positive emotional experiences which help us form strong relationships. And as with crying, just because we now have complex languages to convey our emotions, that doesn’t mean that laughter isn’t useful or that it will disappear. Hi, thanks for the question!
Well, I reckon we could think about this in a similar way to the question as to why we cry when we’re sad, another question which I’ve answered here http://ias.im/35.275, and which I discussed with an evolutionary perspective. I am going to borrow much of that answer, since I think it directly helps us answer the question of why we laugh.
Humans are very social animals with very complex social interactions. Today, language allows us to communicate our feelings and intentions (but also mask them by lying) extremely effectively. However, in our evolutionary past we have not always had such well-developed language.
If we look at other extant (still existing) apes apart from ourselves, we humans are the only ones that communicate with complex languages, so complex language is a derived trait amongst the apes. All the other apes communicate with relatively much more simple vocalisations, which include grunts and panting during play. And so this is probably how our last common ancestor communicated (our evolutionary grandparents that we share with chimpanzees, gorillas and orang utans).
As complex social animals, the more successful groups would have been those which had the strongest bonds between individuals. The strongest bonds would have been formed between those individuals that had better communication and conflict resolution abilities (making up after fights), since there are inevitably tensions between individuals in any group (think about you and your friends, and your family). As with the panting in chimpanzees, laughter probably developed as a way to ease tension between individuals and allow co-operation and form social bonds. Just think, you feel a lot more relaxed with someone when you laugh together, eventually you may become friends with that person. So I think the short answer to your question would be that in the past, right up until now, laughter has been a form of communication that allows humans to ease tensions in our groups, resolve conflict and form strong relationships. And as with crying, just because we now have complex languages to convey our emotions, that doesn’t mean that laughter isn’t useful or that it will disappear. Laughter is universally recognised regardless of language barriers, although the cultural context defines the meaning. Indeed laughter seems to be very much a part of our humanity.
Hahahahaha
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