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

http://3info2u.com/Image/laught1.jpg

Psychology of conflicts

Conflict is a state of opposition, disagreement between two or more people or even groups of people. Sometimes conflicts are characterized by psychical violence. Military conflicts between two states may constitute war.

Conflicts can exist at a variety of levels of analysis: interpersonal, intrapersonal, emotional, group conflicts and so on. Conflict is an inevitable part of interpersonal and group life, it’s essential to learn how it works, how it can go wrong and what you can do to resolve conflict effectively. The most common causes of conflict is when :
- structure is unclear and information few
- unclear interests
- relations have changed and different values
- failure to look at the situation in a flexible manner, without prejudice
- failure to listen
- intra-personal problems (doubt, shy).

All conflicts’ situations has advantages and disadvantages. Conflicts’ advantage is a chance to know and understand other people better, improvement of interpersonal relations, avoids various defect. Conflicts’ disadvantages are problems remain unsolved, dissatisfactions, negative mood, intensification of negative relations, the group even fades.

However, conflicts are often linked to emotions that are very difficult to control, so this cause difficulties in dealing with conflicts. Finally, I can say that conflicts are often difficult to solve, even when both sides want to get maximum benefit. The best way to do this is to find a compromise. However it is not always easy to do.

References :

Psichologija Furst M. Vilnius : Lumen 1998

http://www.ve.lt/galery/2007-04-21/sepr6-5_.jpghttp://blogs.hbr.org/erickson/2009/02/the_four_biggest_reasons_for_i.html