Tyler Cowen has an interesting post on Laughter, over at Marginal Revolution.
So why laugh, anyway?
Maybe Robert Provine can tell us. Provine is a University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor and a behavioral neurobiologist. He argues that laughter is a social signal, that it's all about bonding between and among people.
He also theorizes that tickling is the origin of laughter. Strange, in that most ticklish people hate being tickled.
The idea that laughter works as a kind of social glue fits with some other other observations. A baby's first giggle comes at around three or four months, which also happens to be the time the baby starts to recognise individual faces. And the way we laugh depends on the company we're keeping. Men tend to laugh longer and harder when they are with other men, perhaps as a way of bonding. Women tend to laugh more [almost fifty percent more] and at a higher pitch when men are present, possibly indicating flirtation or even submission.
Yes, I can remember my infant son smiling at me: best feeling in the world (he's now ten going on sixteen and his method of bonding is to say, "I hate you.").
Why did laughter evolve?, by Bob Holmes, discusses Provine and others on laughter. It also mentions a dissenting view: the University of Georgia's Charles Gruner believes that laughter is an aggressive act. Worth a read.
And if anyone out there would like to present me with a gift of Robert Mayhew's Ayn Rand on Humor, why, I'd accept. With a grateful chuckle, of course.
(Hat tip to Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution)
Posted by Craig Ceely at January 6, 2004 12:17 PM