(photo by Jim Wilson, Creative Images)
Laughter, it can be said, is a symptom of joy. And it can often be a source of happiness–laughing makes us feel good.
But this we already know. Here are some things you might not know about laughter:
- there are 40 to 50 qualitatively distinct kinds of laughs with distinct meanings
- female laughter might have evolved as a way of influencing the moods of surrounding males
- laughter is social—people are 30 times more likely to laugh in group situations than in solitary ones
- laughter signals a shared understanding of the world, so it’s foundational to interdependence and intimacy and like-mindedness
Learn more about laughter in this Ode Magazine article: “How laughter evolved and how it makes us human“
Tags: joy, laugh, laughter, ode magazine
