A Look at Humor, Laughter, Tickling, and the Brain
Everybody smiles and laughs at some time or another. The first laughter appears at about 3.5 to 4 months of age (8)., way before we are able to speak. The average adult laughs 17 times a day (4). Even monkeys and apes have some facial expressions that are similar to human smiles. But really, why do we laugh? Why are we not able to tickle ourselves? What part of the brain is responsible for laughter and humor? Why do we say some people have no sense of humor? We never go to the doctor because we feel good or because we think something is funny. Therefore, it is not a clinical problem; that is why there has not been much research done on the topic of laughter and the brain.
Although there is considerable information on the neuronal representation of speech, little is known about brain mechanisms of laughter (2). While many researchers have tracked the brain mechanisms of depression, fear and anger, they have ignored positive emotions and have just begun to study humor. Their investigations are shedding some light on how the brain processes humor and prompts laughter.
Take this joke for instance: How many Bryn Mawr college students does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: None, they were all so busy studying that they didn't even notice the light was out. If you found this old joke funny, you will get some activity going on in the brain. Investigations into how humor and laughter influence the brain are leading to a clearer understanding of how positive emotions affect brain mechanisms. This in turn may lead to creative ideas for new therapies for emotion disorders and pain (1).
The physiological study of laughter has its own name, "gelotology". Researc...
... middle of paper ...
...Nature Journal
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v391/n6668/full/391650a0_fs.html
3)What is so Funny and Why: Laughter and the Brain
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/laugh.html
4)How Laughter Works
http://www.howstuffworks.com/laughter.htm
5)Humor on the Brain
http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=laughter.htm&url=http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DyeHard/dye990414.html
6)The Heart of Laughter
http://www.howstuffworks.com/framed.htm?parent=laughter.htm&url=http://www.wm.edu/wmnews/research/laughter.htm
7)Brain may hinder sense of self-tickling
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/health-science/html98/tick_102098.html
8)A Big Mystery: Why do we Laugh?
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3077386/
9)Scientists Locate Sense of Humor
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/humor001128.html
Physiologically, happiness is activity of the mind, predominantly in the left prefrontal cortex, anterior cortex, and the amygdale. Recent studies made possible by scanning systems such as MRIs and Positron Emission Tomography show that when an individual experiences feelings of happiness, the activity in these areas of the brain increase proportionally. This empirical evidence concurs with Aristotle’s definition, wi...
“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
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?
Religious leaders are the targets of satire throughout Candide. Voltaire portrays the religious clergy as men who use their positions to further their own causes. In addition, the priests keep the less fortunate oppressed, so the clergy members can continue to enjoy extravagant luxuries. Candide discovers the young Baron, whom he thought to be dead, living among the Jesuit Priests of Paraguay. Assuming the native people must be thriving under the protection of these religious/military leaders, Candide believes this to be a most pleasant place to live. However, he soon discovers that the religious leaders are pilfering the resources of the natives. The young Baron is found eating from golden bowls while the native people live in poverty with very little food. Th...
An enlightenment philosopher François-Marie Arouet, commonly known as Voltaire, wrote Candide. Voltaire “was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state (Wikipedia).” He was born November 21st 1694 into an upper-middle class family. Voltaire started showing an interest in writing at a young age. Candide was published in 1579. It was a French Satire. A satire is “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues (Oxford Dictionary).” Candide mocks the ideas of the philosopher Leibnitz though the character of Pangloss because Leibnitz believed in an optimistic world and Voltaire feels that thinking this way makes one a hypocrite. Candide defines optimism as “a mania for insisting that all is well when things are going badly (Voltaire, p. 48).” Throughout the book, many themes and symbols are present.
Saper, B. (1990). The Therapeutic use of humor for psychiatric disturbances of adolescents and adults. Psychiatric Quarterly, 61(4), 261-272.
Voltaire's Candide is a novel which contains conceptual ideas and at the same time is also exaggerated. Voltaire offers sad themes disguised by jokes and witticism, and the story itself presents a distinctive outlook on life. The crucial contrast in the story deals with irrational ideas as taught to Candide about being optimistic, versus reality as viewed by the rest of the world.
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.
The spectrum of therapeutic techniques available within the health care continuum is very complex and varied. From traditional medicine, to holistic remedies, and anything in between, nurses have a rather large arsenal at their disposal when it comes to treating the patients that are under their care. Humor as an alternative therapy has long been understood as a proven means to aid in the recovery process. “With so much power to heal and renew, the ability to laugh easily and frequently is a tremendous resource for surmounting problems, enhancing your relationships, and supporting both physical and emotional health” (Smith & Segal, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to discuss situations in which humor would be a viable alternative therapy
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.
The author doesn’t forget to mention the relationship between USA and NATO. He thinks that Americans welcome NATO as a weapon for America’s affairs, not of the world’s. In his final words, it is suggested that either Europe should invite USA to leave NATO or Europe should expel America from it.
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...
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
Feeling down and depressed? Laugh all those troubles away. Laughter is a simple yet substantial way of putting that little spring back in the step. When people say “Laughter is the best medicine,” what are they referring to? Laughing acts as calorie burner, prevents heart disease or other illnesses, can increase learning abilities and focus, or even bring a more optimistic outlook on life.
Candide by Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) is a critique of the “all for the best” philosophy that Christians keenly followed in the mid-1700s. Voltaire is a famous philosopher from the Enlightenment period. He wrote about his perspective on certain issues existent in the world and addressed them in various ways. In Candide, he specifically used French satire to criticize a popular notion of the 18th century stating that all things, good or bad, are for the best. Voltaire himself was an anti-religious man and he rejected this philosophy that all things happen for a reason; this concept seemed highly irrational, unreasonable, and unnatural to him. He felt that it was dangerous for people to think that God has a plan and that if something bad happens in His plans, its still all for the best. He used many utilities to prove his point, including satire and irony. He displayed various themes throughout the story and indirectly targeted his audience with sarcasm. He created various characters to represent the different types of people he was targeting. Even the names of the people were satirical. The word Candide, for example, literally means “naïve” and “childlike honesty”. Pangloss, another major character, means “all tongue”. By doing so, Voltaire was able to play with his readers on every page of the book.