The Causes Of Laughter

According to Google Feedback, the definition of a laugh is making the spontaneous sounds and movements of the face and body that are the instinctive expressions of lively amusement and sometimes also of contempt or derision. Whether it is a deep belly laugh, a giggle, or a high pitched chuckle everyone laughs in different tones and manners. Nobody laughs the same, as many things can influence the way a person laughs and what they perceived to be funny. Laughter can help take a person’s mind off of stressful situations. It can often result from being in a crowd of laughing people and not even necessarily finding something funny. Some people laugh at things when others do not because of age, brain differences, and contagious laughter.

Scientific studies have shown that children often laugh approximately 300 times per day, while “adults laugh less than twenty times a day” (Martin). So what role does age play in the causes of laughter? For a majority of people, they are born with the ability to laugh. Unless a person is born with the rare disease aphonogelia, in which case they have a disease where they cannot physically make the sounds associated with laughter. For the most part, though, babies are able to laugh at birth. Steve Wilson, a psychologist and laugh therapist, states even “people who are born blind and deaf still laugh. So we know it’s not a learned behavior. Humans are hardwired for laughter” (Griffin). Everyone (except for the people diagnosed with aphonogelia)