Jaak Panksepp Beyond A Laugh Analysis

Laughter is a therapeutic form. In the novel One flew over the cuckoo’s nest by Ken Kesey laughter represents freedom and an escape from nurse Ratched’s restrictions.

Do all latinos have to speak spanish? This is a question that can go for many other culture. In a comedy routine by Anjelah Johnson, she jokes about her being hispanic and not knowing how to speak spanish. Anjelah Johnson effectively uses humor in this routine to get the audience to laugh. She uses humor to deliver her message that all latinos don’t have to speak spanish. She uses humor because it’s easier to communicate with a person when you’re joking.

Laughter is contagious; much more infectious than any sneeze, sniffle, or yawn out there. When laughter is shared amongst a group, it forms a bond and spreads happiness throughout. Laughter is also known to increase confidence, even on the worst of days. In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the patients, day by day, do not live their own lives, but instead, one that is under the control of Nurse Ratched. The patients have been in a mental institution for so long, they are surrounded by a depressing and bland world, so much so, that now they are relatively lifeless. In this novel, laughter is indeed the best medicine and frees one from control and oppression and gives the patient's confidence to have their own voice.

Laughter is evidently found in all four parts of Kesey’s book. When Randle McMurphy is introduced, he holds a genuine feature all the patients are surprised to hear and that is his laughter, “he commences to laugh…its free and loud… this sound is real….I realize all of a sudden it’s the first laugh I’ve heard in years.” (Kesey 12). McMurphy, a humorous and defiant character is the only one in the asylum not afraid to laugh and show his joy, making his laughter the symbol of freedom and defiance. In addition, laughing is a rebellious sound to the wicked Nurse Ratched. It demonstrates that one is mentally free and not confined by the oppressive rules that she imposes on the patients and institution. It also represents defiance. McMurphy cannot survive without laughter, it is one of the ways that he fights imprisonment by society and Nurse Ratched. Moreover, laughter is also a representation of strength. When McMurphy first encounters the patients, they are afraid to laugh in the institution, they only snicker and smile, so he takes it upon himself to try to help them loosen up and laugh. As the patients become accustomed to McMurphy, they begin to let out a few laughs here in there but not real radiant laughs. Chief Bromden recognizes that the cause of that is because they are not yet strong enough to laugh, he states “he still wasn’t able to get a real laugh out of anybody…he didn’t understand why we weren’t able to

What is laughter? What is the role that laughter plays in society? Laughter is the “physiological response to humor.” It is what triggers the body’s release of endorphins or the feel good chemicals. It is what can heal us from pain.

Laughter is a therapeutic form. In the novel One flew over the cuckoo's nest by Ken Kesey laughter represents freedom and an escape from nurse Ratched's restrictions.

I Totally Funniest is written in the perspective of a middle school aged boy who has just qualified for the world’s funniest kid competition. This is not like a spelling bee or math competition, this is where kids show off how funny they can be for one million dollars. The author, James Patterson, has one over ten reader’s choice awards and has had some of his books become movies such as Along Came a Spider that starred Morgan Freeman. He has written other books including Women’s Murder Club, Maximum Ride, NYPD Red, Middle School, and Michael Bennett. Patterson is even involved in his family company called The Patterson Family Foundation that has given over $26 million to over twenty-five colleges/schools which helps children grasp the

Rifkin is evidently right about how animals express their emotions and have similarities to us humans. This article

Do animals feel joy, love, fear, anguish or despair? What ere emotions, and perhaps more importantly, how do scientists prove animals are capable of emotion? Sea lion mothers have often been seen wailing painfully and squealing eerily as they watch their babies being eaten by killer whales. Buffaloes have also been observed sliding playfully across ice, excitedly screaming “Gwaaa.” Emotions are defined broadly as psychological phenomena that help in behavioral management and control. This is a challenging question to researchers who are trying to determine the answer to this question. Through current research by close observation combined with neurobiological research, evidence that animals exhibit fear, joy

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

A team of European scientists discovered that a playful mood can spread between parrots in much the same way as it does between humans. Parrots have an unstoppable curiosity and it was their odd behavior that attracted the attention of scientists. They wondered if the kea parrot’s playful behavior could be brought on by the laughter-like calls the birds make while fooling around. To test their theory, they used hidden cameras. For fifteen minutes, they played recordings like a kea laugh, a regular kea call, a different bird call, a whistle and a neutral digital tone. The laughter made the individual parrots become much more likely to engage in playful events. It also made them play longer. The birds also came more likely to frolic after hearing

Patch may have been on to something since science itself claims laughter is good for the human body. For one, decreasing the pain you feel and helping your blood vessels to function better; allowing them to expand which increases blood flow. All of which is good for the heart and brain. (Hara Estroff Marano,

Charles Darwin was the first scientist to ever study animals in a systematic way (Bekoff “The Emotional Lives” 6). In his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin discussed the

In the school that the narrator teaches at, we can see how the narrator feels about Harlem. The narrator discusses how the laughter throughout the halls is "mocking and insular" instead of "joyous" (Mays 94). From this you can see that the children attending the school are often picking on and making fun of each other. The narrator is very much used to this type of interaction because he and his brother grew up the same way but he is just now realizing that it is not normal.

Central Idea/ Thesis statement: There are several benefits of laughter in terms of physical, mental and social.