Anthropology of humor and laughter - Essay Example

[Your full full April 07, Anthropology of Humor and Laughter Humor is anything that makes people laugh. It is a typical human activity that an individual experiences a number of times in a day while performing different activities of life. Humor and laughter bestow adaptive benefits because both of these senses have an evolutionary origin. Every culture or society has some sort of influence on the way the people perceive something amusing or humorous. Although laughter is a common trait of all humans, but not every person considers everything appropriate for laughter.

People belonging to different cultures consider something appropriate for laughter in accordance with their cultures. From a social perspective, humor is a positive emotion of an individual, which is elicited in different social contexts and is demonstrated by different vocal and facial behaviors of laughter. Canned jokes, funny utterances, funny expressions, and spontaneous witticisms are some of the main forms of humor (Martin 29). Psychological functions of humor bring various cognitive and social benefits for the humans.

Some of the most significant benefits of humor include increased social interactions, help in relieving the tensions and stress, and help in regulating the emotions. In the past couple of decades, the overall concept regarding laughter has shifted from something being viewed as socially inappropriate to being perceived as socially desirable and healthy for the mind (Martin 29). The sense of humor acts as the main source of laughter for any individual. Although the sense of humor has a number of psychological and social benefits, the mainstream psychology still needs to pay some more attention to this aspect of human behavior.

Works Cited Martin, Rod. The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Burlington, MA: Elsevier Academic Press, 2007.