Mike Carruthers:
When you laugh what exactly is going on? Robert
Provine:
Laughter from a scientific point of view is a series of short
bursts of vowel-like sounds that last about a fifteenth of a
second and repeat every fifth of a second. That’s the technical
description of “Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
Robert Provine,
Professor of Psychology at the University of Maryland and author
of the book, Laughter:
A Scientific Investigation...
So, it
turns out that laughter is really about people, the relationships
between them, and not so much about jokes. One thing that you
can say for sure - when you’re laughing, you’re probably around
other people. In fact, we laugh thirty times more often when
we’re around other people than when we’re by ourselves.
Women tend to be
attracted to men who make them laugh and men tend to be attracted
to women who laugh at them.
I looked
into this by looking at personal ads in newspapers. And a very
common request by women is for men who have a good sense of
humor. But women requesting men with a good sense of humor aren’t
requesting men who laugh. How attractive do women find giggly
men?
You’ve no doubt heard
that laughter is good for you but Robert says that’s hard to
prove.
Certainly
when we laugh we feel better. If laughter makes us feel good,
it probably is good for us. But hard scientific evidence to
support that laughter produces good health is really not out
there at the present time.
At SomethingYouShouldKnow.net,
I’m Mike Carruthers, and that’s Something You Should Know.
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