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Mar 15, 2007
"Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity." --Joseph Addison
Why We Laugh
Laughter, a topic that has baffled philosophers for 2,000 years, is finally yielding to science. Researchers have now traced the evolution of laughter back to an unexpected discovery: laughter has little to do with humor. It’s an instinctual survival tool for social animals, not an intellectual response to wit. In other words, it’s not about getting the joke; it’s about getting along. Researcher Robert Provine maintains that it's a largely involuntary process, and though people can consciously suppress laughs, few can make themselves laugh convincingly. In his words, "Laughter is an honest social signal because it’s hard to fake [...] It’s a kind of behavioral fossil showing the roots that all human beings, maybe all mammals, have in common."
BE THE CHANGE
Observe where your laughter arises from today and what effect it has, both inside and out.
