Chapter 59
Laughter
People Affected: everyone older than 24 months
Type of Emotion: voluntary expression
Preceding Emotion: usually humor
Vocal Expression: audible which can be recognized while expressed
Type of Emotion: voluntary expression
Preceding Emotion: usually humor
Vocal Expression: audible which can be recognized while expressed
Purpose
Laughter is feedback for comedians. It tells comedians they have triggered your humor.
Laughing is better than speaking. Comedians could not understand an audience of people simultaneously saying “I feel humor”.
Laughing is better than applauding. Laughing does not require the 1-2 seconds to raise your hands and clap that applauding does. Because laughing is quicker, audiences can use it to provide feedback during a performance without interrupting its timing. Applauding is used at the end of performances, when timing is not interrupted.
Laughing helps establish what is considered low rank. We do not laugh at racial jokes. We do laugh at jokes about racists, like Archie Bunker.
Preceding Emotion
Laughter is feedback for comedians. It tells comedians they have triggered your humor.
Laughing is better than speaking. Comedians could not understand an audience of people simultaneously saying “I feel humor”.
Laughing is better than applauding. Laughing does not require the 1-2 seconds to raise your hands and clap that applauding does. Because laughing is quicker, audiences can use it to provide feedback during a performance without interrupting its timing. Applauding is used at the end of performances, when timing is not interrupted.
Laughing helps establish what is considered low rank. We do not laugh at racial jokes. We do laugh at jokes about racists, like Archie Bunker.
Preceding Emotion
Laughter usually follows humor.
Laughter does not always follow humor. People rarely laugh when they are alone. If they do laugh when they are alone, they imagine they are with others. People who laugh while watching television alone hear the audience laugh track.
Laughter is not always preceded by humor. People laugh at jokes they do not understand to avoid looking stupid. Obsequious employees laugh at their employers’ non-humorous jokes.
Children can laugh as soon as they learn it from others. Prior to 24 months, children just laugh to obtain attention. After 24 months, children also laugh because they feel humor.
Seemingly-uncontrolled laughter occurs when your inability to control your laughter lowers your rank. The more you are unable to control your laughter, the more you lower your rank. The more you lower your rank, the more humor it triggers. The more humor it triggers, the more you laugh and so on.
Vocal Expression
Laughter is a sound that can be recognized while expressed. You can recognize other people laughing while you are laughing. This allows a group to quickly provide group feedback. An audience cannot have a meeting and decide what their group opinion is. An audience can listen to others laughing and decide if they want to join in.
Applauding is also a sound that can be recognized while expressed. Laughter is the sound that we agree signals that we feel humor. Applauding is the sound we agree signals that we believe the performance was good.
Laughter does not always follow humor. People rarely laugh when they are alone. If they do laugh when they are alone, they imagine they are with others. People who laugh while watching television alone hear the audience laugh track.
Laughter is not always preceded by humor. People laugh at jokes they do not understand to avoid looking stupid. Obsequious employees laugh at their employers’ non-humorous jokes.
Children can laugh as soon as they learn it from others. Prior to 24 months, children just laugh to obtain attention. After 24 months, children also laugh because they feel humor.
Seemingly-uncontrolled laughter occurs when your inability to control your laughter lowers your rank. The more you are unable to control your laughter, the more you lower your rank. The more you lower your rank, the more humor it triggers. The more humor it triggers, the more you laugh and so on.
Vocal Expression
Laughter is a sound that can be recognized while expressed. You can recognize other people laughing while you are laughing. This allows a group to quickly provide group feedback. An audience cannot have a meeting and decide what their group opinion is. An audience can listen to others laughing and decide if they want to join in.
Applauding is also a sound that can be recognized while expressed. Laughter is the sound that we agree signals that we feel humor. Applauding is the sound we agree signals that we believe the performance was good.
Happiness Dissected is a more practical version of The Origin of Emotions.