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/sci/ - Science & Math

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4906778 No.4906778 [Reply] [Original]

I have a theory on laughter. Hear me out.

1) When we find something humorous, it is always because the humor identifies a contradiction. For example: the reason Homer Simpson is funny is because he contradicts the male gender role of a stable and responsible head of the household.
2) Humor builds unity between people. When you find something funny with someone, you build a closer bond with them. In fact, humor can be used to unify large groups of people. Ever do public speaking? When people laugh at a joke you made, it is a good sign.

I think that, eons ago, when mankind was evolving, humor was a form of social glue that allowed members, of a group, to make distinctions, without consciously knowing it. Humor was used for the advancement of the group in the form of building unity, between members to physically fight another group of people. If a member of a group made some kind of statement identifying a contradiction about another individual or group, and the members of this group laughed, this would indicate that the group agreed that there was a contradiction between the other party and their belief system.

Now what do you do when you laugh? You open your mouth and show your teeth. It's basically saying, to everyone around you, HERE ARE MY TEETH, SEE THEM? I AM SHOWING THEM TO YOU SHOW THAT I AM CAPABLE OF COMBAT AND AM READY TO FIGHT.

Agree/Disagree?

>> No.4906876

You, I like you.

>> No.4906882

Disagree. It does not explain why the following joke is so good.

How do you organize a space party?

You planet!

>> No.4906895

people also laugh when they are uncomfortable.

>> No.4906904

>>4906876
I dont usually laugh but when I do its because you're a faggot

>> No.4906907

No OP. You are completely wrong. Humor is a lot more complicated than that.

>> No.4906908

>>4906895

This. And I know, since I'm on the autistic/socially incompetent side of the internet, that everyone else here knows it to be true.

>> No.4906910

No >>4906907. You are completely wrong. You fail to support you claim.

>> No.4906932
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4906932

a plausible theory, too bad you don't have any evidence.

take this other, also plausible train of thought, along similar lines, as a counter point:

>in ancient times, it was beneficial to be able to correctly predict the consequences of an action
>we evolved a way to take pleasure from noticing whenever a result was novel or unexpected
>hence the development of a sense of humor, which is simply the pleasurable experience you get when faced with a result that is unexpected
>humor is the reward system for noticing novel consequences

which i just made up on the spot, and is probably complete bullshit, and is no more or less testable than your theory.

>> No.4906950

Although I would never try and over define what humor is, I suspect OP is onto something about #1.

I remember the Perry Bible Fellowship guy once called laughing a "cough like reaction when too much information reaches the brain." I suspect this might be the case. As in, some thing is presented which suggests a large amount of information at once which is difficult to process.

Unusual and new ideas are inherently difficult to process as we are unfamiliar with them.

>> No.4906952

>>4906950

Is that what laugh attacks are from on mushrooms or LSD?

>> No.4906956

we also tend to laugh at situations which are relateable though. also, i don't open my mouth when i laugh, just smile.

>> No.4906957

>>4906952

Its certainly consistent with the hypothesis.

>> No.4906958

humor is often linked to shared experience

>> No.4906961

woah, you atheists are really this pathetic

>> No.4906970

this is something i'll never grasp either, I have thought endless over.. why is there laugh? :@
its just one of those things though...

>> No.4906997

>>4906958
It's good to know that somebody finally gets me.

>> No.4907113

>>4906895
laughter is a way of telling those around you (and so yourself) that things are OK, that's why we often do it when things are not OK. we laugh at slapstick, because someone falls over on a banana skin, but he's ok, no broken skull. we laugh at incongruous things because strange things are often a threat, but in this case they're not, they're OK. we group together and laugh at someone we've singled out because we're OK, we're part of the gang.

>> No.4907124

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humor