Both laughter and breaking wind involve sound and expiration of gases yet laughter is somewhat more popular than breaking wind. Hardly surprising really ;)
So why do we laugh and what do we find funny?This question was posed on a science forum a while ago, so I did some research and found out the following:
Gelotology is the study of why we laugh with regards to our survival/health etc.
See source link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelotology
From the link you can see that laughter is shown to be VERY beneficial for all aspects of our health. It reduces stress levels, improves our immune system and IS contagious!
Meanwhile with regard to the science of what we find funny I found this source:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/scilaugh.html
The above source says this:
"Although we do laugh at jokes and
funny movies, 80% of our laughter occurs during everyday comments in
everyday social situations. Robert Provine, a neurobiologist who
studies laughter, with help from three graduate students, went to
places such as shopping malls and eavesdropped on more than 1200
conversations.
They noted who was speaking, who was listening, who laughed and when,
and whether the speaker and listeners were female or male. They found
that the person speaking laughed 46% more than the listeners and that
women laughed more often than men. Furthermore, the response to the
speaker depended on the speaker's gender. People, whether male or
female, laughed more readily in response to a male speaker. The
researchers also observed that laughter rarely interrupted speech.
Instead, laughter came at the end of a phrase, much as punctuation
follows a written sentence."
However the MOST intriguing fact with regards to laughter is this one:
"Babies who are born
blind and deaf can laugh, so the ability to see or hear is not required
for laughter."
So laughter is innate and not a learned behaviour, which indicates that laughter is VERY
necessary for our success as a species and individual survival.
What do I find funny?
I find that my children make me laugh more than anyone else.
Looking at this from a survival point of view I can see how this could be by 'design' rather than some bias I have towards to my own children.
Many stress situations are alleviated by laughter,
I find their grumpy faces particularly funny. My laughter causes them
to relax their features (as laughter is now proven to be contagious)
and they laugh. Thus, rather than both of us being stressed, the
situation is immediately alleviated via laughter a simple facial and
vocal expression.
How can we use laughter to benefit our lives?
I am not suggesting you go around laughing at angry people, as an
ingenuous laugh will likely have the opposite effect. I did though find as a
child, that joking around and making bullies laugh saved me from a few
scraps and most comedians will tell you this is how they started out, being the class joker to avoid bullying.
The MOST successful business people in the world who started with
nothing have great smiles and can woo pretty much anyone. Consider
Richard Branson's wide smile, and Donald Trump is often seen
laughing and smiling during interviews.
Whereas celebs who get a lot of criticism smile very little when interviewed. I often put ex UK PrimeministerTony Blair's success down his smile rather than his ability to lead.
So, if you want to be a success in life, develop your laugh and smile.
