Why Do We Laugh?

A deep dive

How does an elephant hide in an apple tree? He paints his balls red.

What's the loudest sound in Africa? When a giraffe eats an apple.

I’m not sure who came up with that, nor whether or not apple trees actually exist in Africa, but it sure does tickle my funny bone. And hopefully, for you, it counted as one of the 17 times you’ll laugh today.

(And if—for some reason—you’re a child reading this, that might’ve only been 1 of 300 times you’ll chuckle this day. Also, congrats on knowing what balls are.)

But today’s topic is more than just hilarious animals and high-pitched screams, I wanted to know why we humans like to laugh and what causes this strange symphony of hysterics.

It turns out, there’s a lot more behind a giggle than just a clever punchline I wish I could’ve added to this last line of the introduction.

What’s in a Laugh?

First off, to state the obvious, laughter isn’t the same thing as humor. Laughter is technically a physiological response to humor. Like when someone spits soda all over my unwitting friend after an unexpected punchline.

It was my fault, but it wasn’t really a choice for my friend, as it was physiological—an automatic response to hilarity, and I am hilarious.

But what does that body response entail?

• A series of short syllables similar to short vowels with the same sound

• Each one is about ~75 milliseconds long

• Repeated every ~210 milliseconds

• It involves sets of gestures and sounds and includes most limbs in the body

• 15 facial muscles contract and expand, even activating our tear ducts

• It disrupts our respiratory system (ever laugh so hard you’re out of breath?)

Laughter, as it seems, is a full-body experience, and no two laughs are exactly the same. From hees and haws to snickers and snorts, our laughter can come in countless shapes and sizes.

So now we know what a laugh entails (as if you didn’t before), but why do humans laugh in the first place?

Hans Laughed First?

Evolution can be a tricky wicket, especially if you believe the world is coming to an end soon. And understanding the evolutionary factors for something as silly as laughter can be even more complicated.

But generally, many scientists think it has to do with group and social cohesion. When someone laughs around you, it’s a sign they aren’t a threat, and if they aren’t a threat, they can be considered a friend, right?

Furthering the group cohesion idea, it was found speakers are 46% more likely to laugh than their audience or peers. And it kind of makes sense.

Speakers, at least for a moment, can be considered the leaders of a group, and the leaders are meant to set the pace and mood of a room. If they want an audience to like and appreciate them, they’ll entice them to laugh.

And then in steps a part of our brains softly referred to as the laugh detector, a neural circuit that triggers us to chuckle when we hear others laughing.

It’s been shown to increase bondage (not the fun kind) in groups, which is why we laugh 30 times more when we’re with people vs being alone. Hell, even laughing gas, something I had the pleasure of experiencing after cracking my wrist in half as a kid, is completely unable to make us laugh if we’re sitting by ourselves according to researcher Willibald Ruch—who, as a German, assumably went into the field of gelotology with a desire to laugh some day.

Is it starting to come together now?

1. If I want a group of my friends to relax, especially after a stressful situation, I might say: “Two peanuts were walking alone on a beach at night, unfortunately, one was a salted.”

2. Some members of the group with poor taste then laugh.

3. Then other members’ neural receptors trigger and laugh back.

4. Then everyone is laughing and my terrible stolen joke has successfully cohesed the group!

Another more recent theory suggests laughter occurs as a form of telling the group a danger has passed. A tiger walks by your village and doesn’t even look twice at the juicy baby sitting nearby?

Phew, that’s a relief.

Now let’s all have a good chuckle and assume it won’t come back at night when it’s actually hungry.

Even animals, with 60 species counted so far, can experience their own version of laughter. And it’s not just our close cousins the apes and chimps that do it. Dolphins, rats, and dogs emit a distinct kind of sound pattern before initiating play, rough and tumbling, socializing, and experiencing decreased stress levels.

This probably means a lot of our shared ancestors laughed too, which means even Cro-Magnon Man or Marjorie Taylor Green have chuckled once or twice before going on racist tirades against lasers from outer space.

Okay, so now we know laughter involves almost the entire body and is a function of bringing people closer together, but what truly causes us to chuckle?

What Actually Makes Us Laugh?

This is where it gets a bit complicated. Why? Because no one really knows the exact answer to why humans laugh from an evolutionary perspective. But there sure are a bunch of fun ideas why.

Unfortunately for the purpose of this article, there are over 20 different theories trying to explain what makes us appreciate humor. Some days I can’t even count that high, let alone memorize several strikingly non-humorous research papers.

The three main theories of humor are somewhat obvious:

1. Relief theory: When laughter releases built-up tension and incongruity; used as comic relief in movies. It’s like when Fezzik (Andre the Giant) randomly says “Anybody want a peanut?” as a form of comic relief amidst the tension of the story in Princess Bride.

2. Superiority theory: Where we laugh at others' mistakes, stupidity, or misfortune, feeling superior and detached. Just think of Dumb and Dumber and any of the insanely stupid hijinks of Harry and Lloyd. We laugh because we think we’re smarter than them, and proceed to go vote for Trump the next day.

3. Incongruity theory: When humor arises from unexpected outcomes that replace logic and familiarity. Like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when the “Black Knight” keeps getting all of his limbs cut off but continues insisting it’s “just a flesh wound.”

Most of the theories focus on five main things that might cause us to find something funny: surprise, things happening at the same time, feeling superior, something unexpected or out of place, and situations that make it okay to find humor in what's happening.

Age also affects what we can find humorous over time.

When we're little kids, we find the most absurd and unexpected things hilarious, like someone getting a pie in the face or a classic fart joke. What kid doesn’t love a whoopie cushion?

Then, as we traverse those awkward teenage years, our sense of humor shifts, and we start laughing at stuff related to sex, food, authority figures, and all those fancy "forbidden" topics.

But then we become adults, and our humor takes on a more refined taste (well, maybe in your case). We find ourselves chuckling at shared experiences and embarrassing moments that we can all relate to, and we become more subtle and accepting in our comedic preferences.

And of course, specific cultures, countries, and communities can find vastly different things amusing or not. Try joking about queue-jumping in the UK, and they might send you straight to the back of the line with a disapproving glare.

Make a joke saying Thanksgiving is all about showing gratefulness for genocidal chicken pox, and you’ll wind up learning the true meaning of the Second Amendment the hard way.

So, to catch up, our bodies convulse in laughter in order to help us identify friends from foes, and we laugh when we find things absurd, dumber than us, or need a bit of relief.

But should we strive to laugh more?

Laugh at Your Doctor

Yes! Laughter has been found to be extremely beneficial to our overall health and well-being. Laughing isn’t just a hilarious pastime, but it's also a fantastic way to boost your mood and keep stress at bay.

When you find yourself in a fit of laughter, your body actually undergoes some pretty remarkable changes.

For starters, laughter can stimulate your lungs, heart, and muscles, enhancing your intake of oxygen-rich air and increasing the release of endorphins in your brain. It also activates and relieves your stress response, leaving you feeling relaxed and content.

Another benefit? Feel free to skip the gym. “Researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike.”

Of course, there’s even more.

In the long term, laughter can improve your immune system by counteracting the negative effects of stress on your body. It can also alleviate pain by prompting the production of natural painkillers and enhance personal satisfaction by making it easier to cope with challenging situations.

Think of Patch Adams (Robin Williams) and his amazing ability to help severely ill patients eek a few moments of joy out of very bleak situations.

It turns out, his actions very likely helped them and not just their moods.

Laughter helps you connect with others and even has the power to lift your mood and self-esteem, particularly for those struggling with depression and anxiety.

And since a whopping 23% of American households are now estimated to have at least one mental health-related prescription medicine, maybe we all need far more laughter in our lives.

So, keep on laughing, because not only does it bring people together, but it also keeps your mind and body in tip-top shape. After all, laughter is truly the best medicine.

As such, here’s your prescription for the day:

Two doctors walk into a bar and hook up.

After the fun, the male doctor says, “You must be a cardiologist, because you made my heart stop!”

The female doctor says, “And you must be an anesthesiologist.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I didn’t feel a thing.”

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Written by a chuckling J.J. Pryor.

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