Why Do We Laugh?

Laughing is weird if you think about it- a physical response to something we find funny, or even uncomfortable. Guest host Annie Gaus explains why we do it.

Read More:

DO ANIMALS LAUGH
"Life can be funny, and not just for humans. Studies by various groups suggest monkeys, dogs and even rats love a good laugh. People, meanwhile, have been laughing since before they could talk."

Is laughter really the best medicine?
"Laughter may not be the best medicine after all and can even be harmful to some patients, suggests the authors of a paper published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ. Researchers from Birmingham and Oxford, in the UK, reviewed the reported benefits and harms of laughter. They used data published between 1946 and 2013. They concluded that laughter is a serious matter."

Is laughter really the best medicine?
"Laughter may not be the best medicine after all and can even be harmful to some patients, suggests the authors of a paper published in the Christmas edition of The BMJ."

Laughter and MIRTH (Methodical Investigation of Risibility, Therapeutic and Harmful): narrative synthesis

10 Reasons Why Laughing Is Good for You
"Have you ever had that exhausted feeling after a good laugh? You know, the one where your side hurts, your eyes water, you can't catch your breath and your body's totally spent. It feels like you've just finished a two-hour session at the gym."

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[WarMasterX]

That makes sense sort of...I just dont agree it always has to involve a threat of harm or the feeling of discomfort when you know a joke is coming already.

[PessOmist]

Nobody laughs at Will Farrell, he is not funny!

[LynneSkysong]

Why do we laugh?
Before watching the video: Social bonding and emotional health.
After watching the video: Hmm, not bad. I wonder if enough laughter will keep me from catching the flu/cold this season. I've been much happier this year compared to last. 

[TheEmJaynee]

A dnews that actually explains the initial question of the video....

[SSJGohan]

I haven't "lold" since i was a kid. Can only laugh inside my head.

[MarianoRodriguez]

That could explain an initial reaction, but not an unstoppable laughter. Why would it escalate?

[ShawnRavenfire]

I thought of this years ago, and I'm glad to see someone else had the same idea.  It just makes sense that instinctive vocalizations are signals to other members of the herd/pack/tribe, and in this case, is indicating "all is well, " after a perceived danger.  I suspect this is why people without a sense of humor tend to become paranoid and even dangerous, or why putting sensitive subject matter into "joke form" makes it easier to tolerate.

[MrTuesday]

so why do you laugh when someone says something funny then

[myvydz]

"produce stress"? Didn't you guys catch that?

[director]

How many times must I sit through the same damn commercial without being able to cancel it? It's on every video!

[MegaShrooom]

Why did I laugh just by reading the title?

[AliEl]

Im sorry, but those are making it very hard for me to look up

[fkgabbana]

I WAS JUST WONDERING THIS!! Literally like two nights ago! Thanks DNews!

[kellyh]

I really liked this explanation. I really didn't expect it to be so full or conclusive. Thank you for the video.

[quaternio]

The Hurley-model is the best theory of humor, in my opinion. Basically it supposes that mirth is a feeling resulting from superstimulating of our mental faculty to detect mistaken reasoning. Our ability to reason and construct narratives in our head is vital to humans, and humor over-stimulates our ability to recognize an error in such narrative building. It over-stimulates part of our brain much like desserts over-stimulate our ability to detect sweetness, or pornography over-stimulates our sexual urges.

[jwelch]

Annie you are great and should be in the full time rotation on D news

[PeachPepsi]

That does explain the "awkward" laughing but why do we laugh at things, like you said, Will Ferrell movies? Things that don't really scare us but we do laugh at. I agree with you though. The experiments do explain why we laugh when we're embarrassed or when something awful happened but we're okay even after it.

[halotube]

Well that explains why i laugh when i know i'm fucked during a pop quiz

[Aquemini]

My theory is (I also posted it to a buzzfeed video that stated that a weird thing that people do when by themselves is not laugh at something when they find it funny.) We laugh when others are around to let them know we find something humorous.

[mikemacduffee]

Pleasant discomfort/twist surprise doesn't explain all or most laughter imho.