Charles Darwin presented the theory of evolution by in 1859. The theory of evolution is described as the change over time of an organism that gains adaptive traits. These traits increase an organism’s fitness. An organism’s fitness is the organism’s ability to pass on its genes and produce offspring. Certain characteristics increase survivability and fitness. These traits are passed down through the genes. Less favorable traits are less likely to be passed on as the organism’s ability to survive and pass on genes are lowered. Through this, an organism’s traits passed to the offspring allows them to be better adapted to their environment. Van Hooff hypothesizes in his article, “A Comparative Approach to the Phylogeny of Laughter and Smiling”, …show more content…
Van Hooff explains that “the similarity existing between...the silent bared-teeth display and our human smiling...and the similarity between the relaxed open-mouth display and our laughter” reveals a phylogenetic connection. Although humans use smiling and laughter interchangeably, there are certain social scenes where it is inappropriate to use them. This much like how monkeys use the silent bared-teeth and relaxed open-mouth displays for certain situations. Furthermore, he states that smiling and laughing serve a similar function as silent bared-teeth and relaxed open-mouth displays. Smiling and laughter are often used to show friendliness and encourage a playful environment. He performed a study to see what people associated with smiling and laughter. It was found that there was a high correlation between positive attitudes (friendliness, playfulness) and smiling and laughing. There was a low correlation between negative attitudes (aggression, submission) and smiling and laughing. From this, Van Hooff concludes that although they function differently in apes and humans, there is phylogenetic evidence that silent bared-teeth and relaxed open-mouth displays are precursors of human laughter and …show more content…
In selections from Provine’s “Laughter, it explains how some people laughed while looking at each other. Although it the people claimed that they looked at each other because the third person was not funny. Provine explains the subliminal message of this act. By laughing together, an outgroup and ingroup are formed. Those laughing together are the ingroup and those excluded become the outgroup. Much like how the displays monkeys use to retain social hierarchy, laughter functions like so. The social hierarchy of ingroups and outgroups are kept in place by the use of laughter. R. Martin’s “A brief history of the meaning and concept of Humour” relates to Van Hooff’s study that revealed a high correlation between positive attitudes to laughter and smiling. Although Martin looks specifically at humor, the association is still the same. In history. Humour was often seen as a negative thing. The act of laughing at other’s misfortune, a type of superiority, and was seen as aggressive. It was commonly associated with aggressive ways of provoking laughter. However, over time, humor was seen more desirably and received more positively. Humour revealed a sense of intellectuality. It was also related to revealing traits like warmth and friendliness. Like smiling and laughter, humor
Although modern science has allowed us to develop many complex medicines, laughter is still the strongest one available in the real world and in the book. Laughter proves to be a strong medicine in more ways than one and is completely free, allowing anyone to use it at anytime. It allows us to connect socially with people, it can be used as a way of overthrowing power, and it is good for your health. As Randle McMurphy showed in the novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, laughter can lighten the mood in the darkest situations.
Laughing is resorted to in times where we need to laugh. It’s an escape from reality, its comfort, its fear. Laughing subdues any emotion that is too high strung in our system. It lets it vapor out in a melancholy form that helps us cope with problems that no one else can really understand and help us with. In One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest it allowed emotional tension escape from the patients and made nurse Ratched lose her ward.
This book is about so many things, it is hard to stay on one topic for any length of time. In order to focus on the laugh and laughing as a healing agent, I would like to look towards other influential writers and thinkers to tie together laughing and healing. First, let’s see what laughter is according to Meriam Webster: laughter- n. a cause of merriment. Using this simple definition, we can assume that laughter can come from any form of merriment or emotion like triumph, contempt, relief, and almost any other emotion there is. It is easy to picture in your head different underlying emotions in laughter; the sinister laughs of witches and ghosts, the insincere, fake laughs you hear after pointless, humorless attempts at jokes on the six o’clock news, to the silent laughs of mimes and clowns that fill the people around them with a happy feeling. These are all examples of what laughter is and how it is used. But why do we do it? What in nature created the laugh and made it so successful?
Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical
“The practical disengagement of humor…helps explain the opposition between amusement and negative emotions.” (530) There are three effects of humor; irresponsibility, blocking compassion, and promoting prejudice. Humor can take away what we are/should be doing in life and sometimes there isn’t anything wrong with that. Sometimes when we hear a hateful thing we just laugh it off as if it was no big deal when it really was. “An
Evolution is described, as being the change that occurs on a genetic level when a new generation spouts from an ancestral population. Change is destined to happen. That is why in the science of biology, the word evolution means descent with modification. Through various factors such as the temperature of the environment, humidity, and altitude a species will adapt to survive and will eventually pass on genetic traits that help the species next generation survive. In 1859, Charles Darwin, a geologist, published ‘The Origin of Species.’
Laughter is an interesting topic. Mainly because of the lack of thought that goes with it as to why we laugh. In an article titled Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson, the theory behind why things are funny is explored. He mentions many different things in his article pertaining to the comic, however, there are a few that stand out more than others. He talks directly about the fact that things are only funny if they relate to humans. Then he touches on the idea that accidents are funnier than planned events. Finally, he speaks on laughter being directly related to social setting. The 1992 film Noises Off is a perfect demonstration of everything that Bergson writes about. Henri Bergson’s essay on laughter is perfectly supported by the film Noises Off.
3. Apte, Mahadev L. Humor and Laughter: An Anthropological Approach. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1985.
Comedy differs in the mood it approaches and addresses life. It presents situations which deal with common ground of man’s social experience rather than limits of his behaviour – it is not life in the tragic mode, lived at the difficult and perilous limits of the human condition.
Laughter is an essential human phenomenon. Smiling in response to pleasant physical conditions occurs in early development, usually in the first month of life. As a motor reflex, laughter is usually present by the time a child is 4 months old. By the age of eighteen months, a child smiles once every six minutes, and by four years of age, the rate increases to one smile every one and one-third minutes. The ratio of laughs to smiles increases from one laugh to every ten smiles as eighteen months to one every three smile at four years. The individual differences in the rate of both laughing and smiling become greater as the children grow older. (Stearns, 1972) The instinctual development of smiling and laughing occurs very early in life, suggesting a high level of importance.
For laughter to be an immoral act brings one into addressing an ethics of emotions. This is a topic cover in Berys Gaut’s ‘Just Joking: The Ethics and Aesthetics of Humor’, in which he proposes the idea of ethicism in which bad attitudes detract from the humor of a joke or, a joke is less funny when it is offensive (Gaut 1998). This is similar to the idea of moral emotion (de Sousa). I am not satisfied with either of these views and would like to assert a slightly stricter ethical system than Gaut has presented that is further from absolutism as Bergmann is. I hope to find this balance while incorporating the points made by Laurence Goldstein in ‘Humor and Harm’ on linguistic subtlety as a major component of what makes a joke funny (Goldstein
Therefore, laughter therapy can be a series of cognitive-behavioural therapies that helps to make physical, psychological, and social relationships healthy and ultimately improves the quality of life (Ko and Youn 2011). It has taken a very long time for laughter to become a recognized medical therapy. Dr. William Fry of Stanford University School of Medicine developed a theory of laughter therapy, and found that humour and laughter produced natural painkillers in pituitary, such as endorphins, improved blood circulation, and decreased stress (Fry and Salameh
The fact is, smiled are said to be contagious because of a process known as “mimicry.” The phrase “monkey see, monkey do” has a significant meaning. Giacomo Rizzolatti and other neuroscientists at the University of Parma discovered mirror neurons, special brain cells, in macaque monkeys twenty years ago by implanting electrodes in their brains. The neurons from the same region of the brain were activated and fired during different motor actions and when the monkey spectated too. For example, when one monkey was grabbing an apple out of a box, neurons fired in its prefrontal cortex.
If there is one way to bring a smile to someone’s face, it is laughter. Funny jokes, comical stunts, sarcasm- Every person is different when it comes to what makes them laugh. Some find dry humor comical. Others think sarcasm or joke-filled ranting are the best. ‘Comedy’ is such a broad term, broad enough to allow everyone to find something they find comical. In fact, ‘comedy’ includes a specific type of drama, one where the protagonist is joyful and happy endings are expected. Comedy is like a drug; it allows you to escape reality. When we say the word ‘comedy’ in the present, we are generally referring to a type of performance which provides humor. However, in its broadest sense, comedy has only one purpose: comedy makes people smile and
Humor has been the source of entertainment throughout history. Today humor is practiced in movies, plays, songs, television shows and radio. Humor has brought fame and fortune to those who have mastered its power.