In his scientific essay, “Monkey see, Monkey Do, Monkey Connect,’’ Frans de Waal argues that primates need one another for survival skills and imitate their surroundings to fit in just like chameleons blending in with their habitat. Unconscious synchronization plays a big role in this as primates copy each other's bodily movement without even knowing. Frans de Waal provides examples of yawning, laughing and humans making mouth chewing movements while spoon feeding their baby, in order to show that imitation happens naturally and us primates need one another for survival and bonding. Which shows us that as primates we are much more connected than expected. At the beginning of the essay, de waal discusses yawning being contagious and an example …show more content…
This evidence connects to my claim by showing us primates are an example of unconscious synchronization when it comes to yawning. In the middle of the essay, de waal transitions to laughter and how everyone loves laughing and can't resist joining us in laughing. De waal states, “What intrigues me most about laughing is how it spreads, it is impossible not to laugh when everybody else is.” The words “what intrigues me most about laughing is how it spreads” suggest that laughing is very contagious and we can not resist joining in on a conversation about laughing near us, and is important because de waal talks about how laughing is just as contagious as yawning. This evidence shows that us primates love laughing because of how joyful it is, to the point there have been laughing churches and laughing therapies based on healing the power of laughter. This evidence connects to my claim by showing how primates imitate their surroundings to fit in, in this case De Waal shows how us primates bond and have a strong connection socializing when it comes to laughing because it is something everyone loves to do and can't resist joining
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.
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?
Someone inside the house was laughing” (Pg. 41). The laugh could have a variety of different implications.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The fall of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnamese force on 30 April 201. This event marked the end of the Vietnam War. On this day Vietnam encounters the largest exodus of immigrants as Vietnam governed by the communist regime. Lan Cao in her novel Monkey Bridge reflects the struggle of the Vietnamese Americans immigrants in America. Lan Cao was born in Vietnam in 1961 and moved to live in America when she was thirteen years old as a result of the Vietnam War. Her novel Monkey Bridge published in 1997, it is a semi-autobiographical story of a mother and her daughter who leave Vietnam and settled in the United States. It considers to be the first novel by a Vietnamese American about the war experience. Monkey Bridge has two narrators. Mai one and a half generation Vietnamese American teenager, who run off to America when Saigon falls in 1975, and her mother, Thanh, who manages to join her daughter a few months later. Mai aims to help her mother to overcome her past. On the other hand, Thanh fells that by keeping her daughter away from the truth of their shameful history, she can protect her from having the same pain and sorrow that she once had. Thanh’s inability to achieve reconciliation with her past and her inability to assimilate in the new world leads her to commit suicide, leaving a message for her daughter to tell her the truth about her past.
Harry F. Harlow was an American Psychologist who studied human behavior and development through studies of social behavior of monkeys. Harlow got his BA and PhD of Psychology from Stanford University. Then, later on got a job and did his studies at the University of Wisconsin. Harlow’s experiment consisted of young monkeys being separated from their mother right after birth. Then, the monkeys were raised in the laboratories which had mothers that were made up of wired mesh and another with wood and a terry cloth. When the infant monkeys were placed in the cage with only one mother was equipped with a nipple which was the wired mesh mother. It was placed so the infant monkey could nurse. Even though the wired monkey had nourishment, the young monkey would most often cling to the terry cloth mother. Harlow would place a monkey inside a cage. Then, began to make loud noises against the cage or play recordings that made the monkey feel insecure. The monkey always seemed to go toward the terry cloth mother as it began to get scared. The infant monkey would go for comfort, but eventually would get nourishment from the wired mother.
For this reason, humor holds the capability to bring people together and lead to something, like change. Mary O’Hara writes “[comedy provides] a counterbalance to bigotry and prejudice” (O’Hara 106) to prove that humor can do more than make someone laugh, but to reinforce the truth. Humor is a natural human behavior that allows people to escape the mundane, laugh at themselves and also the world around them. O’Hara also writes that “comedy can have a profound impact on how we feel, and even how we act” (O’Hara 110). If humor can change the way we think and act, then it consequently has the ability to bring forth social
All primates have the same sensation and are capable of receiving excessive amounts of information. All senses, sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch are essential to the development, survival, and overall well-being of living primates. It is fascinating how non-human primates, without language, can communicate in the same ways as human primates, with language. Non-human primates and human primates are highly developed mammals that possess many of the same communicative characteristics, but still differ greatly. Non-human primates fit into the category of not having language, but being able to communicate.
Language is commonly held to be the province of humans, but other inhabitants of earth possess their own forms of communication. Birds, dolphins, and whales are some of those that have a language. Primates also use vocal communication with each other. Their utterances have varied uses and volumes, with each primate’s voice being distinct just as human voices are. These unique calls have given researchers insight into the social workings of primate groups. The very fact that primates have a language offers insight into the evolution of language and calls into question what the term human truly means.
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.
Emotional contagion is having one person's emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in another person or group of people. This can be done through a two-step process of emotional mimicry and synchronization of one's expressions and by vocalizations and posture feedback and movements. When people unconsciously mirror a partner’s expressions, they come to feel these reflections of emotions as well. Emotional mimicry is one of the most highly adaptive behaviors. One can have muscle movements that mirror the expressions they see, including looking at an angry face that activates the corrugator muscle which activates frowning. Then there is also a happy face that contracts the zygomatic major which helps with
Although in a squirrel monkey's community normally the females are the dominate sex in their families, but that behavior has been witnessed in Anita Stones (2014) study conducted on wild squirrel monkeys. Even though the matriarch behavior was not seen in this film, one can assumed that their behavior may have been reversed due to possible breeding season. Dr. Stone stated "I observed at least nine adult males via focal animal sampling and ad libitum observations during four mating seasons and during an additional 10 nonbreeding season months for comparison. Compared to less robust males, fatter males spent significantly more time near females and less time alone. " (Stone, 2014)
There have been many theories over the years as to why we laugh. Freud suggested that during laughter, you discharge pent-up psychic energies. In a theory by V.S. Ramachandran, we laugh to alert others in the social group that an anomaly, whatever it is we are laughing at, is inconsequential. For example, if someone falls and is not hurt, we laugh to signal to others that the person is all right. The theories vary greatly, but there are so many attributes to the phenomenon o...
Keegan (2010) says humans are not the only beings to respond to this kind of communication. An example: If you have a pet, especially a dog, it may follow directions and respond to hand and body movements more than your words. Dogs will even get confused if you say “sit” but give the hand ...
There is an upheaval in the rise Mind-related diseases like nervous breakdowns anxiety, sleeplessness and depression. Laughter had a positive effect on many people who were on heavy anti-depressant pills and tranquillizers. Now they are getting better quality of sleep and decrease in the depressive symptoms.