Why we laugh, according to science
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Loading... - Charlotte Reid
- 21 Oct 2022
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A woman is having a terrible time in labor and suddenly yells, “I shouldn't! I could not! Nope! I can't !"
Don't worry," says the doctor. "Those are just contractions"
Until now, various theories have tried to explain what makes something funny enough to make us laugh.
These include transgression (something forbidden), a sense of arrogance or superiority (mockery), and incongruity : the presence of two incompatible meanings in the same situation.
I decided to review all the available literature on laughter and humor published in English over the last ten years to see if any other conclusions could be drawn.
After reviewing more than a hundred articles, my study produced a new possible explanation: laughter is a tool that nature may have provided us to help us survive.
I looked at research papers on theories of humor that provided significant insights into three areas: the physical characteristics of laughter, the brain centers involved in laughter production, and the health benefits of laughter.
More than 150 articles provided evidence of important characteristics of the conditions that make humans laugh.
By organizing all the theories into specific areas, I was able to condense the process of laughter into three main steps: bewilderment, resolution, and a possible signal that there is no longer any danger , as I will explain later.
This raises the possibility that natural selection may have preserved laughter for the past millennia to help humans survive. It could also explain why we are attracted to people who make us laugh.
The evolution of laughter
The incongruity theory is good at explaining laughter generated by humor, but it is not enough. In this case, laughing is not a pervasive feeling that things are out of sync or incompatible.
It is about finding ourselves in a specific situation that subverts our expectations of normality. Read More…
