The first book to offer an integrated reading of ancient Greek attitudes to laughter. Taking material from various genres and contexts, the book analyses both the theory and the practice of laughter ...as a revealing expression of Greek values and mentalities. Greek society developed distinctive institutions for the celebration of laughter as a capacity which could bridge the gap between humans and gods; but it also feared laughter for its power to expose individuals and groups to shame and even violence. Caught between ideas of pleasure and pain, friendship and enmity, laughter became a theme of recurrent interest in various contexts. Employing a sophisticated model of cultural history, Stephen Halliwell traces elaborations of the theme in a series of important texts: ranging far beyond modern accounts of 'humour', he shows how perceptions of laughter helped to shape Greek conceptions of the body, the mind and the meaning of life.
Laughter-inducing therapies are being applied more regularly in the last decade, and the number of scientific reports of their beneficial effects is growing. Laughter-inducing therapies could be ...cost-effective treatments for different populations as a complementary or main therapy. A systematic review and meta-analysis has not yet been performed on these therapies for different populations and outcomes, but is needed to examine their potential benefits. This research aims to broadly describe the field of laughter-inducing therapies, and to estimate their effect on mental and physical health for a broad range of populations and conditions.
A systematic review of the field was undertaken, followed by a meta-analysis of RCTs and quasi-experimental studies. The systematic review included intervention studies, one-session therapies, lab studies and narrative reviews to provide a broad overview of the field. The meta-analysis included RCTs or quasi-experimental studies that assessed multi-session laughter or humor therapies compared to a control group, performed on people of any age, healthy or with a mental or physical condition. English and non-English articles were searched using PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCO and EMBASE. Search terms included laugh(ing), laughter, humo(u)r, program, therapy, yoga, exercise, intervention, method, unconditional, spontaneous, simulated, forced. Studies were classified as using humor (‘spontaneous’ laughter) or not using humor (‘simulated’ laughter).
This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests that (1) ‘simulated’ (non-humorous) laughter is more effective than ‘spontaneous’ (humorous) laughter, and (2) laughter-inducing therapies can improve depression. However, overall study quality was low, with substantial risk of bias in all studies. With rising health care costs and the increasing elderly population, there is a potential for low-cost, simple interventions that can be administered by staff with minimal training. Laughter-inducing therapies show a promise as an addition to main therapies, but more methodologically rigorous research is needed to provide evidence for this promise.
•The first systematic review and meta-analysis on laughter-inducing therapies for different populations and outcomes.•Overall quality of evidence was low; this research field has yet to reach maturity.•Non-humorous laughter attains higher effect sizes than humorous laughter.•Laughter-inducing therapies may improve depression, anxiety, and perceived stress.•Therapies seem feasible in terminal, immobile or cognitive impaired conditions.
Summary Introduction Scientific research has shown that laughter may have both preventive and therapeutic values. Health-related benefits of laughter are mainly reported from spontaneous laughter ...interventional studies. While the human mind can make a distinction between simulated and spontaneous laughter, the human body cannot. Either way health-related outcomes are deemed to be produced. Simulated laughter is thus a relatively under-researched treatment modality with potential health benefits. The aim of this review was firstly to identify, critically evaluate and summarize the laughter literature; secondly to assess to which extent simulated laughter health-related benefits are currently sustained by empirical evidence; and lastly to provide recommendations and future directions for further research. Methods A comprehensive laughter literature search was performed. A list of inclusion and exclusion criteria was identified. Thematic analysis was applied to summarize laughter health-related outcomes, relationships, and general robustness. Results Laughter has shown different physiological and psychological benefits. Adverse effects are very limited and laughter is practically lacking in counter-indications. Despite the limited number of publications, there is some evidence to suggest that simulated laughter has also some effects on certain aspects of health, though further well-designed research is warranted. Conclusions Simulated laughter techniques can be easily implemented in traditional clinical settings for health and patient care. Their effective use for therapeutic purposes needs to be learned, practiced, and developed as any other medical strategy. Practical guidelines and further research are needed to help health care professionals (and others) implement laughter techniques in their health care portfolio.
•Laughter and humour are important elements of social and cognitive development.•Previous research suggested that humans may not be the only species that “laughs”.•We discuss possible common roots of ...human and animal humour.•Humour and humour-like behaviour can reveal cognitive and social development.•The SPeCies Perspective frames humour based on social, physiological, and cognitive factors.
This mini-review discusses the existing evidence on various forms of humour and humour-like behaviour in non-human animals, combining ontogenetic and phylogenetic perspectives. The first section describes humour-like behaviours, from the simplest to the most complex form (from laughing, tickling, joking, and chasing to ToM humour). In the second section, we propose the SPeCies (Social, Physiological, and Cognitive) Perspective, which frames the various types of humour based on Social motivation, Physiological state, and Cognitive skills. Finally, in the third section, we discuss future directions for further development.
Gelotology (the study of laughter) has it seems mainly evaded the attention of longevity scientists, positive biologists, and geroscientists. However, the potential of laughter to result in immediate ...improved affect, increase overall well-being, reduce cortisol levels, benefit the immune system, and support cardiovascular health, to name only a few of its possible effects, renders it of high interest as an anti-aging strategy. As an intervention, laughter has, at least theoretically, the potential to slow the process of aging, and to ameliorate its lived experience. What makes laughter particularly attractive is that it is accessible to all, is very low risk, and is inherently, for most people, enjoyable. Ten years ago, lifestyle medics first proposed that laughter be prescribed in primary care. They pointed to its efficacy in general patient care, geriatrics, rheumatology, critical care, oncology, rehabilitation, psychiatry, home care, palliative care, terminal care, and hospice care. Nevertheless, laughter prescription has been slow to take off. It is therefore of interest to contemplate why, how, and to what effect, laughter can be harnessed to improve people’s lives. Quality research is recommended to uncover the secrets of laughter, its dynamic effects on the body, if, and how, it may impact longevity, and how it can best be used to promote successful and active aging.
The social life of laughter Scott, Sophie K; Lavan, Nadine; Chen, Sinead ...
Trends in cognitive sciences,
12/2014, Letnik:
18, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Laughter is often considered to be the product of humour. However, laughter is a social emotion, occurring most often in interactions, where it is associated with bonding, agreement, affection, and ...emotional regulation. Laughter is underpinned by complex neural systems, allowing it to be used flexibly. In humans and chimpanzees, social (voluntary) laughter is distinctly different from evoked (involuntary) laughter, a distinction which is also seen in brain imaging studies of laughter.
A substantial body of acoustic and behavioural evidence points to the existence of two broad categories of laughter in humans: spontaneous laughter that is emotionally genuine and somewhat ...involuntary, and volitional laughter that is produced on demand. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that these are also physiologically distinct vocalizations, by measuring and comparing them using real-time magnetic resonance imaging (rtMRI) of the vocal tract. Following Ruch and Ekman (Ruch and Ekman 2001 In
Emotions, qualia, and consciousness
(ed. A Kaszniak), pp. 426–443), we further predicted that spontaneous laughter should be relatively less speech-like (i.e. less articulate) than volitional laughter. We collected rtMRI data from five adult human participants during spontaneous laughter, volitional laughter and spoken vowels. We report distinguishable vocal tract shapes during the vocalic portions of these three vocalization types, where volitional laughs were intermediate between spontaneous laughs and vowels. Inspection of local features within the vocal tract across the different vocalization types offers some additional support for Ruch and Ekman's predictions. We discuss our findings in light of a dual pathway hypothesis for the neural control of human volitional and spontaneous vocal behaviours, identifying tongue shape and velum lowering as potential biomarkers of spontaneous laughter to be investigated in future research.
This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cracking the laugh code: laughter through the lens of biology, psychology and neuroscience’.
Following from
Jefferson's (1979) observation that laughter can invite reciprocal laughter, this article explores an interactional pattern that underpins regularities in the occurrence behind shared ...and non-reciprocated laughter. Analysis of a large collection of instances in terms of their sequential position and contribution to the trajectory of sequences, revealed a sticking pattern: that shared laughter is often associated with topic termination. After exploring several instances of this sequential pattern and considering how laughter contributes to a closing trajectory, I then analyse excerpts where laugh invitations are refused by recipients who overlap with contributions that pursue topical talk. In these it appears that participants orient to the potential topic termination relevance of shared laughter, and thus refuse the invitation in order to add to topical development. In this way, the article adds to a body of conversation analytic research that demonstrates that there is no simple stimulus-response relationship between humour and laughter and that the occurrence or absence of laughter at an appropriate juncture may result from orientation to interactional considerations such as the ongoing trajectory of the talk.
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