• Question: Why do we laugh when we hear or see something funny?

    Asked by Ayrton to Ed, Kerrianne, Nina, Oli, yoyehudi on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Kerrianne Harrington

      Kerrianne Harrington answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      As a physicist, I’m not really sure. I’ve read somewhere it’s not entirely about humor though, and is more about social relationships.

    • Photo: Oli Wilson

      Oli Wilson answered on 15 Nov 2017:

      That’s such a physicist answer, Kerrianne 😉 (You’re right, though – and unfunny, non-social things can make people laugh too, like tickling and laughing gas.)
      There appear to be a whole load of theories about why we find things funny (look, a whole unfunny wikipedia page of them! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humor), but I don’t really understand how they explain why they make us laugh – why laughter, of all the possible reactions? Why not just shout out ‘that is funny’? Perhaps since all humans do laugh, naturally and in basically the same way, it’s just the standard human way of expressing that funny feeling!

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