The Definitive Book of Body Language - Barbara Pease [29]
The origin of human laughter is as a
primate warning signal
The Laughter Room
In the 1980's, several American hospitals introduced the concept of the “Laughter Room.” Based on Norman Cousins's experiences and other laughter research by Dr. Patch Adams, they allocated a room and filled it with joke books, comedy films, and humorous tapes, and had regular visits from comedians and clowns. Patients were then exposed to thirty- to sixty-minute sessions each day. The result was impressive—a dramatic improvement in patient health and shorter average hospitalization time per patient. The Laughter Rooms also showed a decrease in the number of painkillers required by those in pain, and patients became easier to deal with. So you could say that the medical profession now takes their laughter seriously.
He who laughs, lasts.
Smiles and Laughter Are a Way of Bonding
Robert Provine found that laughing was more than thirty times as likely to occur in participants in a social situation than in a solitary setting. Laughter, he found, has less to do with jokes and funny stories and more to do with building relationships. He found that only 15 percent of our laughter has to do with jokes. In Provine's studies, participants were more likely to speak to themselves when alone than they were to laugh. Participants were videotaped watching a humorous video clip in three different situations: alone, with a same-sex stranger, and with a same-sex friend.
Only 15 percent of our laughter has to do with
jokes. Laughter has more to do with bonding.
Even though no differences existed between how funny the participants felt the video clip was, those who watched the amusing video clips alone laughed significantly less than did those who watched the video clip with another person present, whether it was a friend or a stranger. The frequency and time spent laughing were significantly greater in both situations involving another person than when the participant was alone. Laughter occurred much more frequently during social interaction. These results demonstrate that the more social a situation is, the more often people will laugh and the longer each laugh will last.
Humor Sells
Karen Machleit, professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati's College of Business Administration, found that adding humor to advertisements increases sales. She found that humor makes it more likely that consumers will accept an advertiser's claims and increases source credibility, so that a funny ad with a famous person becomes even more readily accepted.
The Permanent Down-Mouth
The opposite to pulling up the corners of the mouth to show happiness is pulling both corners downward to show the Down-Mouth expression. This is done by the person who feels unhappy, despondent, depressed, angry, or tense. Unfortunately, if a person holds these negative emotions throughout their lifetime, the corners of the mouth will set into a permanent down position.
In later life, this can give a person an appearance similar to a bulldog. Studies show that we stand farther away from people who have this expression, give them less eye contact, and avoid them when they are walking toward us. If you discover that the Down-Mouth has crept into your repertoire, practice smiling regularly, which will not only help you avoid looking like an angry canine in later life, but will make you feel more positive. It will also help you avoid frightening little children and being thought of as a grumpy old cow.
The Down-Mouth expression can become a permanent