Laughter

Clip of woman laughing

Laughter is a pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laughter can rise from such activities as being tickled,^[1] or from humorous stories, imagery, videos or thoughts.^[2] Most commonly, it is considered an auditory expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, or relief. On some occasions, however, it may be caused by contrary emotional states such as embarrassment, surprise, or confusion such as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh. Age, gender, education, language, and culture are all indicators^[3] as to whether a person will experience laughter in a given situation. Other than humans, some other species of primate (chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) show laughter-like vocalizations in response to physical contact such as wrestling, play chasing or tickling.

Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain, helping humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and providing an emotional context to conversations. Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group—it signals acceptance and positive interactions with others. Laughter is sometimes seen as contagious, and the laughter of one person can itself provoke laughter from others as a positive feedback.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

The study of humor and laughter, and its psychological and physiological effects on the human body, is called gelotology.

^ Stearns, Frederic Rudolph (1972). Laughing: Physiology, Pathology, Psychology, Pathopsychology and Development. Springfield, Ill., Thomas. pp. 59–65. ISBN 978-0398024208.
^ Shultz, T. R.; Horibe, F. (1974). "Development of the appreciation of verbal jokes". Developmental Psychology. 10: 13–20. doi:10.1037/h0035549.
^ Olmwake, Louise (1937). "A study of sense of humor: Its relation to sex, age and personal characteristics". Journal of Applied Psychology. 45 (6): 688–704. doi:10.1037/h0055199.
^ Camazine, Deneubourg, Franks, Sneyd, Theraulaz, Bonabeau, Self-Organization in Biological Systems, Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-691-11624-5 – ISBN 0-691-01211-3 (pbk.) p. 18.
^ Blumer, Herbert (1998) [1969]. "Society as Symbolic Interaction". Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-520-05676-3. group action is the collective action of such individuals ['who fit their respective lines of action to one another through the process of interpretation']...the individuals composing...the group become 'carriers,' or media for the expression of such forces; and the interpretative behavior by means of which people form their actions is merely a coerced link in the play of such forces.
^ Durkheim, Émile (1979) [1951]. "Imitation". Suicide: A Study in Sociology [Étude de sociologie]. Translated by Spaulding, John A.; Simpson, George. New York, NY: THE FREE PRESS. pp. 125, 129. ISBN 978-0-684-83632-4. Thus we yawn, laugh, weep, because we see someone yawn, laugh or weep...The name of imitation must then be reserved solely for such facts if it is to have clear meaning, and we shall say: Imitation exists when the immediate antecedent of an act is the representation of a like act, previously performed by someone else; with no explicit or implicit mental operation which bears upon the intrinsic nature of the act reproduced intervening between representation and execution.
^ Bergson, Henri (26 July 2009) [1900]. "The Comic in General—The Comic Element in Forms and Movements—Expansive Force of the Comic". Laughter: an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic. Translated by Brereton L. ES L., M.A., Cloudesley; Rothwell B.A., Fred. Project Gutenberg. Laughter appears to stand in need of an echo, Listen to it carefully: it is not an articulate, clear, well-defined sound; it is something which would fain be prolonged by reverberating from one to another, something beginning with a crash, to continue in successive rumblings, like thunder in a mountain. Still, this reverberation cannot go on for ever. It can travel within as wide a circle as you please: the circle remains, none the less, a closed one.

[1] Stearns, Frederic Rudolph (1972). Laughing: Physiology, Pathology, Psychology, Pathopsychology and Development. Springfield, Ill., Thomas. pp. 59–65. ISBN 978-0398024208.

[2] Shultz, T. R.; Horibe, F. (1974). "Development of the appreciation of verbal jokes". Developmental Psychology. 10: 13–20. doi:10.1037/h0035549.

[3] Olmwake, Louise (1937). "A study of sense of humor: Its relation to sex, age and personal characteristics". Journal of Applied Psychology. 45 (6): 688–704. doi:10.1037/h0055199.

[4] Camazine, Deneubourg, Franks, Sneyd, Theraulaz, Bonabeau, Self-Organization in Biological Systems, Princeton University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-691-11624-5 – ISBN 0-691-01211-3 (pbk.) p. 18.

[5] Blumer, Herbert (1998) [1969]. "Society as Symbolic Interaction". Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-520-05676-3. group action is the collective action of such individuals ['who fit their respective lines of action to one another through the process of interpretation']...the individuals composing...the group become 'carriers,' or media for the expression of such forces; and the interpretative behavior by means of which people form their actions is merely a coerced link in the play of such forces.

[6] Durkheim, Émile (1979) [1951]. "Imitation". Suicide: A Study in Sociology [Étude de sociologie]. Translated by Spaulding, John A.; Simpson, George. New York, NY: THE FREE PRESS. pp. 125, 129. ISBN 978-0-684-83632-4. Thus we yawn, laugh, weep, because we see someone yawn, laugh or weep...The name of imitation must then be reserved solely for such facts if it is to have clear meaning, and we shall say: Imitation exists when the immediate antecedent of an act is the representation of a like act, previously performed by someone else; with no explicit or implicit mental operation which bears upon the intrinsic nature of the act reproduced intervening between representation and execution.

[7] Bergson, Henri (26 July 2009) [1900]. "The Comic in General—The Comic Element in Forms and Movements—Expansive Force of the Comic". Laughter: an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic. Translated by Brereton L. ES L., M.A., Cloudesley; Rothwell B.A., Fred. Project Gutenberg. Laughter appears to stand in need of an echo, Listen to it carefully: it is not an articulate, clear, well-defined sound; it is something which would fain be prolonged by reverberating from one to another, something beginning with a crash, to continue in successive rumblings, like thunder in a mountain. Still, this reverberation cannot go on for ever. It can travel within as wide a circle as you please: the circle remains, none the less, a closed one.

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