Laughter Contagious Phenomenon

Henri Bergson believes “mechanical inelasticity” (Bergson ) is essential to laughter. In Chaplin’s movie Modern Times, there are many illustrations of such technique that not only composes humorous but also contribute to its theme—capitalists exploit low social status workers.After giving the very basic elements of laughter:—lack of emotions, connection to human traits, relationship to social context —Bergson introduces mechanical inelasticity as the main cause of his main idea regard to laughter. Inelasticity is rigidness. When people are insensitive to changes and remains the last state of their bodies, their bodies are lack of elasticity. The example provided by Bergson is when someone falls, the person may fall because he or she fails to

1-Aside from improving our moods, laughter can reduce stress, help fight infection, and reduce pain.

Norman Cousins said, “Laughter is a powerful way to tap positive emotions" (Moss 1). Humor is studied by many researchers in sociology, psychology, art, literature, and medicine. When people wonder whether humor aids in areas other than health, a treasure trove of possible benefits to the learning or educational community is opened up. Humor can be used as a tool to promote learning.Research speaks to the many benefits of humor in healing, to its benefits in the classroom or boardroom, from reducing stress of students or employees, to boosting self-esteem and feelings of camaraderie. Additionally, studies show that those who use humor to convey a message are often more favorably perceived. Humor helps deliver the presenter's message to

The book, Anatomy of an Illness, by Norman Cousins is a story of his self-prescribed treatment to his collagen illness; ankylosing spondylitis which causes the breakdown of the connective tissue in the spine. Norman was a member of the New York Evening Post, Current History, and a staff member of the Saturday Review of Literature. After suffering horrible reactions to the drugs he was given, Norman was determined to find an alternative to heal his body and took matters in his own hands upon approval from his physician. He did his research and found that when you have negative emotions in the body it produces negative chemical changes in the body. This lead Cousins to believe that positive emotions in the bodies would produce positive chemical changes in the body. After Cousins was told that he had little chance of surviving, he worked hard to develop a recovery program that incorporated mega doses of Vitamin C. Other than hope, love, and faith, he concluded that there should be laughter in his positive emotional therapy. He reported that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter has an anesthetic effect and would give him at least two hours of pain-free sleep. Watching the television show “Candid Camera,” viewing movies, and listening to books being read to him, would all lead to another pain-free interval by stimulating his laughter. With time, Norman experienced gradual improvements and the loss of some symptoms. He even began to regain most of his lost movement in his

Based on Cancer Connect.com, a website on Mind-Body Interventions Complementary Alternative Medicine categories has stated that one research has published in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2003 laughter could be a key factor in helping to boost the immune system which may reduce stress and increase natural killer cell levels, a type of white blood cell that attacks cancer cells.

Laughter also proves a vital role in helping the patients deal with their problems. Not only does it help them deal with problems but it also gave them the push toward progress on getting out of the institution.

Laughter is essential to our very existence. It can get you out of a bad day or out of a sad moment. Syvia is a primary example. Syvia’s family is in a situation where her mother has to give her portion of her meal to Syvia. Her Dad explains that “From pain your mother gave you life, through pain she continues to give (Doc A).”

Patch may have been on to something since science itself claims laughter is good for the human body. For one, decreasing the pain you feel and helping your blood vessels to function better; allowing them to expand which increases blood flow. All of which is good for the heart and brain. (Hara Estroff Marano,

Laughter also proves a vital role in helping the patients deal with their problems. Not only does it help them deal with problems but it also gave them the push toward progress on getting out of the institution.

- Quite a common sign of tension was nervous laughing fits (14 out of 40 participants), which seemed entirely out of place, even bizarre. - On one occasion, a participant had such a violently convulsive seizure that the experiment had to be

Laughter is contagious; much more infectious than any sneeze, sniffle, or yawn out there. When laughter is shared amongst a group, it forms a bond and spreads happiness throughout. Laughter is also known to increase confidence, even on the worst of days. In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the patients, day by day, do not live their own lives, but instead, one that is under the control of Nurse Ratched. The patients have been in a mental institution for so long, they are surrounded by a depressing and bland world, so much so, that now they are relatively lifeless. In this novel, laughter is indeed the best medicine and frees one from control and oppression and gives the patient's confidence to have their own voice.

Another subject, Morris Braverman, had a very peculiar reaction to the experiment. Whenever the learner began to yell in pain, Braverman would begin to laugh. His reaction was not one of pleasure, but one of a lack of knowledge of how to react to his situation.

In a study conducted by Kuiper & Harris (2009), the extent to which humor styles can predict different components of physical health was examined. A sample of 105 undergraduate students within the age range of 17-34 years was selected for the study. The different components of physical health included physical symptoms, attitudes about physical health issues, and coping strategies for dealing with a variety of common physical health ailments and complaints. Adaptive and maladaptive humor styles were expected to show differential relationships with the components of physical health. It was found that humor styles were unrelated to the number of physical symptoms experienced by the participants. The results also showed that higher levels of adaptive

Laughter tends to spread effortlessly among people and chimps when we see it happening around us. So why do the people around us affect our behavior? When someone laughs it's almost impossible not to join in. There are laughing therapies that people attend because humans love to laugh. De Waals chimps laugh during games and he can’t help but expresses a laugh of his own. Chimps join each other into the same behavior as easily as humans do. Shared laughter is one example of primate sensitivity. The same thing happens when a person yawns, it's contagious. This is because our bodies can't resist the urge to yawn. It’s easy to catch on to someone else's behavior such as, synchronization: running when others run, crying when others cry or yawning

Laughter is something that breaks tensions, forms bonds between its victims, and can cheer up your day. It has been scientifically proven that laughter sends rushes of dopamine (the brain’s happy “drug”) to the brain, in which results in you being in a better mood. Everyone is different; hence, everyone will find their own definition of what is funny. Though, there are usually socially acceptable things to laugh at and to not within a community. For example, in America, it is not socially acceptable to laugh if you find out someone has died, or if someone is severely injured. First instinct is to cry, consult the family, and have alone time. However, in Felicidade Eterna, their first instinct is to make it a positive situation and laugh it