Why Do We Laugh?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 584, 9 February 1929, Page 18

Why Do We Laugh?

The “Sympathy” Theory Explained

HAUGH and the world laughs with you,” is a good sound aphorism for the present day. There are some persons who have the happy knack of carrying about with them a fund of wit and humour that permeates the society in which they move. They are worth their weight in gold. We all know the value of a good laugh. If Charlie Chaplin belonged to us, we would surely give him a knighthood, but he doesn't, so we are content to regard him as the wisest clown living (writes Cecil L. Mann in the “Sunday Sun”). It is strange that of all the animal kingdom, only man laughs; that is as far as one can notice, though we should not be surprised if some of the animals have an occasional inward chuckle when they see some of the antics of man. In this respect, however, we need to distinguish between the grin and the laugh. A laugh is not a grown-up smile nor a smile that has burst. We know the grin of pleasure that wo get from our dog when we return each evening, but we can hardly regard this as a laugh. The “half smile” that there has been so much talk about since a defendant in a court case excused himself for stopping his car and “picking up” a girl by the assertion that she half-smiled at him, is a vastly different thing to the laugh. Experts like Elsie Prince have described the half smile. They say it is very provocative and mostly deliberate. It is the “come-hither” sign. It means apparently many things that a full smile or a laugh could never mean. I leave that to the experts. I know nothing about it. Here I am concerned with the laugh and the reason for it. Many theories have been used for

laughter, and no one fits all laughs and all kinds of laughter, and »e must make use of them all, realising that in them there is a common principle. The most popular is known as the “sympathy” theory. Now, you an aware of the almost uncontrollable desire to laugh when someone sliP s on a banana skin. Why should that which might produce pain in another induce our laughter? The sympathy theory states that we are indeed sorry for what has befallen, our sympathy goes out to the unfortunate, W there are so many incidents of nature, and our sympathy is arouse', so much that our lives would bo unbearable, unless the energy of our sympathy could find an expression, and so we laugh. Our laughter Is really our safety valve. Our relief that the incident has not ended in disaster is in laughter, in which, iu some case-, the victim joins. Along the line °- symapthy and its induction, we can account for the contagion of laughte Get a few people in a theatre ‘ laugh heartily at the comedian, w is perhaps not particularly humor®I*-’ 1 *-’ and laughter soon spreads through ts whole house. . Allied to this is the “surpi*; energy” theory. A laugh usu *U commences in the facial mußcles, respiratory muscles are soon attec _ the laugh may even extend to “ limbs, causing up and down ®? ment. stamping of the feet, and endi in a rolling on the ground, and van contortions of the body. We frequently have a great to laugh In the places and aituat* in which laughter is usually P liibited. It is the necessity I° r pression that makes the laughte - essential. Afterwards, we wo

why we laugh. We all have experienced the uncontrollable feeling which follows when the clergyman drops his book, an action which in a calm reasoning state would be unworthy of a laugh, but in the repressive and formal atmosphere of a church where we aro not supposed to laugh, we have to summon a good deal of control in order to preserve our dignity. Under such unusually repressed conditions, people frequently find an outlet in hysteria. For this reason, also, intense emotional strain produces hysteria. It Is recorded that a French miner who had been entombed in a mine without food or light for 20 days burst into a horrible hysterical laugh when he was released. Loss of rigidity is a frequent cause of laughter. Who could repress a laugh at the sight of a portly old gentleman breaking even time after his bowler hat. with which a tricky wind is making sport? Similarly we all enjoy a smile at the “pride which goeth before a fall,” but have a downright good laugh when the fall comes. The laugh which is the accompaniment of a witty saying is rather different. There are many types of jokes, and it is difficult to find any one principle under which to gather them all. in most cases, we laugh at the unexpected ending and call it humour. A school inspector testing a class in arithmetic confused them by writing numbers in wrong sequence. “Three hundred and fifty-six” was written <535. After a few examples, the class became stubborn. On being urged, a big fellow in the front of the class called out: “Five hundred and fifty-five, and see if you can muck that about.” On a par with the unexpected endiug are most of the typical schoolboy howlers, some of which we suspect have adult origins: We are told that a blizzard is the inside of a duck, and that a caterpillar is an upholstered worm.

Wherever two or three forgather, we usually find that the conversation swings round to —“Did you hear the one about the Scotsman?” This is one of the many types of traditional yarns. We drag in jokes about jews. Scots, mothers-in-law. wives and husbands and the übiquitous Ford. In each case, there is but one point to be made; for instance, we can expect only one ending to the Scottish yarn. In fact, the traditional yarn can become little more than epigrammatic. For instance, it is stated that the Scottish delegation which recently returned to our shores called in at the Black Sea in order to fill their fountain pens.

It is significant that most Scotsmen tell yarns against themselves. It is also significant that the average ! Scot is warm-hearted, generous and gives his hospitality. Probably the a good deal of common sense in the j hospitable to his friends. At the same time, he is sensitive when he I typical Scottish yarn is an invention I of the Scot —as the Ford yarn was an j I invention of the Ford factory in order to cover up his sensitive' feel-; ings. It is what the psychologist ! The chief function of the laugh is jto give happiness. It was no mere ; would call a defence mechanism, i aphorism which we wrote in our j ! schoolboy copybooks, “A good laugh j is sunshine in a house,” but there is j I advice we often get. “Laugh and . i grow fat.”