Laughter: A Scientific Investigation

By: Robert R. Provine

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis: Why do we laugh? Laughter has surprisingly little to do with jokes and funny stories. It is an ancient, unconsciously controlled vocal relic that co-exists with our relatively modern speech - a social, psychological and biological act which predates humour and is sharedwith our primate cousins, the great apes. In this fascinating book Robert Provine uses laughter as a powerful probe into human social relationships, revealing that tickling is a form of tactilecommunication, not a reflex; that women laugh more at men than vice-versa; that speakers laugh more than their audiences; and that laughter is mostly about relationships, not jokes. Using the latest evidence, Provine describes laughter using sonic analysis and opera scores, evaluates whether you can 'laugh you way to health', considers what laughter shows about neuropathology, and suggests how to change environments to increase laughter. The first book to establish laughter as a topic of scientific worth, Laughter also includes such esoterica as the history of holy laughter, laughing gas, canned laughter, and a description of the Tanganyikan laughter epidemic that immobilized an entire school district in 1962.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9781101659250
Publisher:: Penguin Books
Date of Addition:: 04/28/14
Copyrighted By:: Robert R. Provine
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: Nonfiction, Science, Health, Mind and Body, Psychology, Sociology
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.