Why Do We Laugh?

Laughter is a universal language of all humans - everybody understands it, without learning it.
Laughter goes beyond borders of language, ethnicity, skin color, age or gender.

But why do we laugh?

That's actually still being researched by scientists, and while there is no straight answer yet, there are several different theories.

We started to laugh as a Baby, at about 4 months (long before we learn to talk!)
Humans are not the only mammals that laugh - primates, dogs and even rats can show a form of laughter as well.
Apes laugh with a panting sound while being tickled or during playing / chasing, which is probably where human laughter originated from as well.
As we grow older, we laugh less - because we play less.
5-6 year old kids are probably the ones that laugh the most!

A big reason for our laughter is to strengthen bonds in a social group, as researchers suggest.

And that's not always because something is funny - most of the time, we laugh because it's a form of communication to humans.
We express that we like, enjoy or understand something.
And that's often not a full-out laugh, but a small chuckle - it works like social glue between sentences that strengthen our relationships.
We're 30 times more likely to laugh in a group than alone, and even more likely to laugh when we're in a comfortbale social setting - e.g. with friends or family.
The social group shares this experience, which makes everyone feel more connected and makes us feel as part of the group.

Laughter is contagious - similar to yawning.
And it's also an unconscious decision - we just do it!
It's very hard to believably fake laughter. And we have developed a very fine sense of distinguishing fake laughs.
Kids on the other hand can't tell the difference between a real and a fake laugh that easily, but instead they are moreprone to laugh contagiously.

There are many different theories that have been developed about the question why we laugh.

Incongruity Theory:

This theory suggests that surprise, in any form, triggers laughter.
That could be a punchline of a joke, or something unexpected happening like someone tripping. Anything that is incongruent and unexpected in a situation can make us laugh.
This goes especially for toddlers or young kids - they tend to find surprising behaviour or actions very funny and can laugh at it for hours!

Relief Theory:

Let's say you were the one who tripped over something in a room full of people. If you see your friend laughing, you will probably start laughing as well, due to the social group behaviour explained above.
But after realizing you're not hurt, you will probably also laugh due to the relief.

Superiority Theory:

If you tripped in front of a lot of strangers and they laugh at you, the reason is the superiority theory.
Humans sometimes laugh when making fun of someone else, signalizing them superiority.
This is especially true for teenagers, who ease stress by superiority laughter.

What does laughing do to our body?

When we laugh, we activate over 15 different facial muscles.
Our stress hormone levels decrease, as well as our blood pressure.
Our blood flow gets access to more oxygen, and our T-Cell levels (that aid our immune system) increase.
Also, you can burn calories while laughing - a 15 minute bike ride can be compared to 1000 times laughter!
And most importantly, laughter triggers the release of Endorphines which ai our general well-being and make us feel happy an healthy!

Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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