By Cassie Naimie

To paint the picture: its 11:13pm on a Monday and I am currently sitting on a worn, red couch listening to my friend read off a list entitled “21 yahoo questions that are too horrifying to stop reading” and we are all laughing incessantly. Granted, not all on this list are funny. Some things are strange, absurd, or ridiculous, but here we are expelling air from our ribs and larynx like it’s no one’s business. So why are we really laughing?

On Friday I went to the psychology lecture entitled “The Science of Laughter” given by Sophie Scott. I learned many new interesting things about laughter and would now categorize the study of it as a science. The three most important aspects that stood out to me were 1: laughter cannot be controlled. It is involuntary motions that once begun cannot be stopped until you completely let it out. High pitched squeaks and silent giggles are ways that air movement is changed as the laugh exits the body. 2: Laughter does not use the same facial muscles as smiling and talking. It uses much less in fact and is primarily concerned with the muscles of the rib cage that control the movement. And last, but most important to me, laughter is another form of communication.

It is often what is unspoken that sometimes can have the most meaning. In the case of laughter, you literally cannot speak as it is occurring. Fun fact: the average person laughs 7 times for every 10mins of conversation and when asked how frequently they laugh, people will always underestimate it. Yes we laugh because things are funny, but we most often laugh to show approval, appreciation, and play with the person we are communicating with. It is a part of human social life that allows us to make connections with other people. Even if it is a fake laugh, which can be distinguished from a natural laugh, we still seem to appreciate it for what it is. That the other person deliberately chose to make an audible response to something, which indicates they feel some way about it.

Ultimately, laughter cannot be dismissed as a trivial thing. It is universal. And this lecture gave me hope that feelings like joy, happiness, and hope can eventually be empirically studied as we continue to learn about the world around us and what connects us all.