Better to Laugh Than Cry

What Happens When We Laugh?

It often starts with a quick smile. As the individual mentally processes the punchline, or concludes that a scene or story is inherently funny, a number of physical changes follow the 'getting of the joke'. These responses are publically visible. The eyes close a little, the mouth opens, the jaw is lowered, teeth are exposed and there is a universal 'h'-type sound from deep in the human larynx. It is not speech, it is not any language, but we quickly recognise the pulsing rhythmic noises made by those captured in the mirth of the moment. Ruch and Ekman (2001), both prominent researchers in the analysis of human expressions and humour, suggest that across the globe we all perceive and respond to the onset of laughter from other humans.

At the end of the 19th century, Hall and Allin (1897) examined how 3000 people from the United States laughed. They recorded a string of behavaiours which comprise a laughter episode. The person captured by the humour may appear a little out of control. They pay less attention to what others are doing. Individual differences are apparent but some recurring behaviours are readily recognisable. Almost no-one stands perfectly still and laughs. Much more often there is head shaking, jerking of limbs, contortions of the trunk and rocking back and forth. In full and expressive laughter, there are repetitive waves of loud pre-speech 'h' sounds, punctuated by periodic sharp intakes of breath, all of which may be accompanied by tears streaming from the eyes. Indeed, the picture may not be a pretty one but the person participating is beyond caring for that period of time.

Interestingly, in some cultures one or both hands sometimes seek to cover the mouth. Sometimes a forehead or thigh may be slapped, and almost inevitably the chest heaves and expands to take in more air. Large-breasted women or rotund men may even seem to have body parts moving in several discordant directions at once. Children sometimes jump up and down, stamp their feet, and spin around as if contorted by an alien force and, if the episode continues, they may utter quick pleas such as 'stop, stop, no more!' Given all these physically engaging consequences, it is perhaps not surprising that in some cultures when people know they are likely to laugh a lot, they prepare for the physical consequences by lying down. O'Hanlon (1984) reports exactly this behaviour among the Ibo in Indonesia. No Western comedy festival yet prepares its audience in quite this way.

The physical analysis of laughter has many more components, but our interest in this volume reaches beyond the external acts and actions of laughter. Our concern is with all the facets of tourism-linked humour and its reception. The concern embraces both laughter and other more subtle responses to humour. More importantly, the interest in the following chapters lies centrally in the psychological benefits and social consequences of humour in the large and complex set of encounters made possible through tourism.

Looking at Laughter

Examining laughter (and smiling) in more detail helps shape our interests in humour and tourism. The description we have offered so far is a general one and some key distinctions introduce subtlety into the analysis. The ethology and communication researchers approach laughter from a descriptive and technical point of view but they point out that intentionality matters. The physical behaviours they observe are organised according to a key variable which is whether the laughter is spontaneous or fake, that is, either involuntary and without restraint, or composed and contrived for a variety of interpersonal motives. For spontaneous laughter, the trigger for the laughter is thought about and quickly processed, and there is no restraint on the expression of the mirth. Interestingly, in this spontaneous laughter with all its bodily movements and physical response quirks, the individual's self-awareness is seen as reduced. In the sense of the presentation of one's self in everyday life as described by Goffman (1969), the individual laughing uproariously and spontaneously is no longer on front stage. Instead, when laughing almost uncontrollably about the joke, story or incident, the individual is offering a window through which the outsider can glimpse their mind and personality. It may also be that the very best psychological rewards of laughter come from this uninhibited involvement. The topic of the benefits of positive responses to humour for individuals and groups will be an area of interest throughout this book.

Not laughing, when many others are doing so, is also potentially revealing. One of the authors has spent time at many conferences and public events with a senior colleague who is a very well respected tourism academic. When other professors are joking their way through mock debates or giggling at one another's staged and manufactured comic performances, the figure in question looks about as happy as a penguin in the tropics (we will assume here that penguins in the tropics are very unhappy, and clearly show signs they would rather be somewhere else). So both laughing and not laughing offer insights about what others think, possibly suggesting topics with which individuals are variously comfortable and uncomfortable as well as sometimes showing predilections among some people for strong cognitive mastery of their public face.

The alternative for many people to not laughing is to fake it, that is, to signal to others that they too get the joke or appreciate the situation. Some may be totally involved in performing a socially ingratiating act and have no idea why the situation is funny, whereas others do understand but see less humour in the circumstances than their associates. The voluntary or fake laughter has some distinguishing features. In addition to the slightly delayed onset of the laughter (cues from others are being attended to by those who wish to join in), there are suggested difference in voice quality, pitch and even the vowels which accompany the basic 'h' sound (Ruch & Ekman, 2001). The careful observer can often identify those who are faking their appreciation of the humour. The laughter may be produced just a little too late (monitoring others takes time) and there may be hesitancy about when to stop laughing. Additionally, not all of the physical signs of abandonment to the humour are evident. The vowels used appear to matter as well. The 'h' sound accompanied by the vowels 'a' or 'e' as in 'ha ha ha' or 'he he he' seem convincing to us as authors, but someone using the stylised trademark 'ho ho ho' of Santa Claus is, in our view, less compelling as indicating spontaneous laughter.

The faking of responses to humour has been particularly closely studied for smiling. Collett (2004) reports that the work of the French anatomist Guillame Duchenne de Boulogne in 1862 resulted in an appreciation of the roles of two sets of facial muscles. The first set of muscles, which are under conscious control, affect the position of the mouth and control its corners as well as the...