Psychology of laughter

Laughter is the best medicine. And there's lots of evidence that laughter does lots of good things for us. It reduces pain and allows us to tolerate discomfort. It improves your job performance, especially if your work depends on creativity and solving complex problems.

Laughter establishes or restores a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people, in fact, some researchers believe that the major function of laughter is to bring people together. And all the health benefits of laughter may simply result from the social support that laughter stimulates.

Today are a lot of different type of laughter. Some people laugh at funny things, some people laugh when they are nervous, some people even laugh when they are angry. Laughter is an open expression of left humour. How you laugh sends different signals other people. Are 5 most popular types of laughter: snorting, snigger, cackling, chuckling and belly – laugh. In a fact very few people think about different types of laughter. Though there are many ways to laugh, from giggles to guffaws and from chuckles to cackles.

Common causes for laughter are sensations of joy and humor, however other situations may cause laughter as well.A general theory that explains laughter is called the relief theory. Sigmund Freud summarized it in his theory that laughter releases tension and "psychic energy". This theory is one of the justifications of the beliefs that laughter is beneficial for one's health. This theory explains why laughter can be as a coping mechanizm for when one is upset, angry or sad.

Finally, I can say that there are not much information about psychological benefit of laughter. Researches are still being done. So we can guess that in the future laughter will be used to cure and more illnesses.

References :

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200504/laughter-the-best-medicine

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200011/the-science-laughter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laughter#Causes

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