Laughter is one of the most fundamental human expressions, yet it is a surprisingly complex phenomenon deeply tied to social interaction, communication, and physical well-being. Far from being exclusive to humor, humans are approximately 30 times more likely to laugh when they are with someone else than when they are alone. We also laugh more if we know and like the people we are with.
The Social Signals of Laughter
Laughter serves several key functions in social settings beyond simply expressing amusement:
Affirmation: People use laughter to show that they agree with what someone has said or that they remember the same thing the other person is alluding to.
Masking Emotion: Laughter is often used to mask other emotions. People may laugh to cover up feeling upset, angry, embarrassed, or even in pain.
Encouraging Disclosure: People will use laughter to get others to do things; if you get someone laughing, they will often share more intimate details about themselves.
Laughter in conversation—which is the most common kind—is typically brief and shared. People tend to laugh together in a coordinated way, often laughing at the ends of sentences. This pattern is so consistent that it even occurs in sign language conversations, where participants could theoretically laugh at any point but still coordinate their laughter to the ends of phrases.
The Contagion Effect and the Science of the Giggles
Laughter can be contagious, much like yawning. This is known as a behaviorally contagious phenomenon.
Learning to Laugh: Babies are not born with this contagion; we essentially teach it to them. When a parent laughs, the baby doesn't necessarily join in. However, when a baby laughs, the parent does join in, which is the contagion working. This interaction teaches babies that laughter is something we do together.
Animal Laughter: Laughter is not exclusive to humans. It is easily observed in other apes, including gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. They laugh in a very similar way to humans, using it for tickling, play, and trying to make play last longer. The main difference is that humans laugh only on the exhalation, while chimpanzees laugh on both the exhalation and the inhalation. Laughter-like behavior has also been observed in animals like rats and parrots.
Health Benefits and Risks
Laughter has significant physical effects on the body, which can be both beneficial and, rarely, risky:
Health Benefits: Laughter makes you more relaxed, causing a reduction in adrenaline. It also causes an increased uptake of the body's naturally circulating endorphins. This is because laughing hard involves quite a lot of exercise in the rib cage, leading to a feeling similar to a "runner's high". Interestingly, these benefits are true even if you completely fake the laughter.
The Dark Side: The intense rib cage squeezes that happen during hard laughter are stressful for the heart and lungs. If a person has a pre-existing heart, lung, or blood vessel problem, laughter can put them under greater strain. There are recorded historical examples of people who have died laughing.
Ultimately, the act of laughter is a powerful mechanism—one that serves to strengthen social bonds and physically improve well-being, suggesting that a good laugh is something everyone should seek out.
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