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 …show more content…
The causes of laughter can be divided into three main groups. One manifestation is laughter as a reflex, such as due to ticking. Another is as a psychosomatic response prompted by a specific stimulus. This is an informative stimulus such as a word, sentence, gesture, action, recollection, situation, etc. This requires the involvement of perception, learning, and memory. This reaction may or may not be terminated voluntarily. The third is again a psychosomatic response, but is differentiated because it is not caused by an adequate informative stimulus and can be terminated voluntarily.
Within this categorization, there are different types of laughter: mirthful laughter, pathological laughter, etc. Mirthful laughter, a lesser studied, but highly interesting type will be the focus of this discussion. A commonly held belief is that mirthful laughter and humor result in positive physical, psychological, and social fitness. With such a expansive area of influence, it is difficult to understand how such laughter influences the body.
Laughter in healing
Studies of the physiology of mirthful laughter, scientifically known as gelotology, are a fairly recent phenomenon. Descriptions of convalescence through positive emotional states have renewed interest in the healing potential of mirthful laughter. Norman Cousins' accounts of the therapeutic effects of laughter during his treatment and recovery from ankylosing spondylitis
Laughter relates a lot to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It is a representation of the ability to decide for your self. Billy Bibbit was always being bossed around by the nurse and his mother. Once he knew he could laugh and stop listening to what everyone demanded of him he started to loosen up. . "It's natural to all human beings to laugh. It's society which restricts us and tells us that we must settle down.'' (Murphy) The society that Billy was in, was putting to much pressure on him to settle down when he was just trying to be himself. That was the part that was making him crazy. The pressure the ward and his mother put on him to be restricted led him to his suicide. When Billy started laughing he actually started to seem normal. He actually slept with a prostitute, knowing that if his mother found out she would never see him the same way. ."It affects our psychoneuro-immunology.'' (Murphy) “In other words, medical research has established a link between emotions, the nervous system and endocrine
Laughter is essential to our very existence. It can get you out of a bad day or out of a sad moment. Syvia is a primary example. Syvia’s family is in a situation where her mother has to give her portion of her meal to Syvia. Her Dad explains that “From pain your mother gave you life, through pain she continues to give (Doc A).”
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.
Laughing in itself is therapeutic. People laugh for many different reasons. Some people even laugh when something horrible occurs, it is a method of escape from what horrors or mishaps are going on around you. "Many psychotherapists find humor a valuable tool in helping their patients to solve their social and emotional problems." (G. Samuel) Chief bromden was
Norman Cousins said, “Laughter is a powerful way to tap positive emotions" (Moss 1). Humor is studied by many researchers in sociology, psychology, art, literature, and medicine. When people wonder whether humor aids in areas other than health, a treasure trove of possible benefits to the learning or educational community is opened up. Humor can be used as a tool to promote learning.Research speaks to the many benefits of humor in healing, to its benefits in the classroom or boardroom, from reducing stress of students or employees, to boosting self-esteem and feelings of camaraderie. Additionally, studies show that those who use humor to convey a message are often more favorably perceived. Humor helps deliver the presenter's message to
1-Aside from improving our moods, laughter can reduce stress, help fight infection, and reduce pain.
While Dr. Kataria believed that laughter improves health, increases organizational profit and brings world peace, a Ford worker in 1940 was fired for smiling at a job site. Ford feared that work and play are the toxic combinations in the workplace. The author states that the joyfulness make us more productive and fulfilled
In a study conducted by Kuiper & Harris (2009), the extent to which humor styles can predict different components of physical health was examined. A sample of 105 undergraduate students within the age range of 17-34 years was selected for the study. The different components of physical health included physical symptoms, attitudes about physical health issues, and coping strategies for dealing with a variety of common physical health ailments and complaints. Adaptive and maladaptive humor styles were expected to show differential relationships with the components of physical health. It was found that humor styles were unrelated to the number of physical symptoms experienced by the participants. The results also showed that higher levels of adaptive
For this experiment, I went to McDonalds, because that restaurant is known for promoting laughter and happiness. They even have an item that is called a happy meal, and their slogan is "Para Pa Pa I'm Loving it!". Therefore, I was expecting that I would get plenty of laughs across the board. My hypothesis was disproven as there were more females than males laughing. The theme of laughter that I found to be most prevalent was humor that comes from cute child behavior. There were plenty of families with plenty of children, but one couple in particular caught my eye because the mom was not laughing like the father was, because she was the one dealing with adult issues. Customers were not the only ones laughing, the employees in the kitchen, behind the cash register and on break laugh almost as much. Therefore, I concluded from the employee's laughs that they really enjoy their job, as I counted 7 laughs from the employees and 11 laughs from the customers.
Laughter is something that breaks tensions, forms bonds between its victims, and can cheer up your day. It has been scientifically proven that laughter sends rushes of dopamine (the brain’s happy “drug”) to the brain, in which results in you being in a better mood. Everyone is different; hence, everyone will find their own definition of what is funny. Though, there are usually socially acceptable things to laugh at and to not within a community. For example, in America, it is not socially acceptable to laugh if you find out someone has died, or if someone is severely injured. First instinct is to cry, consult the family, and have alone time. However, in Felicidade Eterna, their first instinct is to make it a positive situation and laugh it
To laugh is defined as: “to express certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements” (Dictionary, 2013). This simple act has been suggested to boost immunity, lower stress hormone, decrease pain, relax muscles, and prevent heart disease (Smith & Segal, 2012), and those are just the physical health benefits. Other studies have suggested that laughter is a great way to ease anxiety and fear, relieve stress, improve mood, and even enhance resilience (Bennett et al., 2003). Not to mention that sharing a good laugh with friends and family can bring these relationships closer (Bennett et al., 2003).
There are some studies which show biological role of coping humor in health status. In one such study conducted by Lai et al. (2010), coping humor was found to exert effects on health. Coping humor was found to have a significant effect on the overall cortisol level in the awakening period of participants. Participants scoring high on coping humor exhibited lower levels of cortisol in the awakening period as compared to those scoring low on coping humor. The loss of hormone, cortisol, has been found to result in progressive decline in the ability to fight with diseases. Therefore, these findings suggest coping humor to have significant effects on
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,
Central Idea/ Thesis statement: There are several benefits of laughter in terms of physical, mental and social.
Laughter is a great emotion in life. Ninety five percent of people laugh and smile everyday. Laughter is an emotion everyone has experienced before. Laughter is a common emotion that shows happiness. Happiness yields many benefits whenever humans laugh. Laughter is the best medicine for any type of problem. Laughter makes people happy, but laughter can also make people mournful. When laughter is used to target and make fun of another individual, it becomes a negative emotion. Laughter makes people happy, relieves depression and can sometimes hurt people.