Response to Paige's Post

I found this blog very interesting since I’m a psychology major too, so I love reading stuff like this. Laughter and comedy is definitely an interesting concept to try to understand using psychology because there are so many ways to approach how and what inside of us makes us laugh or find certain things funny. Laughter and comedy is definitely a great way to get rid of stress, and I think it would be great to try making people laugh as a form of therapy. I believe this because it is honestly so true that laughter is the best medicine. I can say there have been very few times where I’m laughing but still upset or stressed at the same time. Laughing with friends or watching a funny comedy show can completely change someone’s mood. There have been times where I laugh even when I may not find the joke funny or I’m not in a mood to laugh, but almost everytime I can say my mood is changed. This is something I’ve started to notice too because it just shouldn’t make sense that we start off in a bad mood, but our mood instantly changes from laughing at something. The whole idea of this and laughter in general can be explained by psychology and studying the brain too. Maybe it has something to do with mimicking emotions, like when we pretend to be happy and smile it can change our mood. This relates to laughter and the first exercise you outlined. Even by laughing alone at yourself in the mirror this almost mimics the feeling of joy and laughter when you are laughing with friends or at a joke. I like how there are so many different ways that laughter can help us cope with struggles or stress. This should definitely be utilized more in life because laughter can easily turn someone’s day around.

Comments

  1. Caroline BassOctober 17, 2018 at 11:02 AM

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  2. Caroline BassOctober 17, 2018 at 11:04 AM

    Great post, Lucy! I was especially interested by the idea that laughter can change the mood of an entire group. I think this could be explained through Hutcheson's theory that humor is a social concept. In particular, it reminded me of an article on group emotional contagion, which essentially states that the emotions of one person can alter those of others in a group. So through this perspective, laughter is definitely an expression of social cohesion.

    Here's the article:
    Barsade, Sigal G. "The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior." Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 47, no. 4, 1 Dec. 2002, pp. 644-75, journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2307/3094912. Accessed 6 Dec. 2017.

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  3. Shane HerronOctober 19, 2018 at 12:51 PM

    Isolation is like stress something that is very bad for mental health. Community and laughter both help to improve it greatly. it is interesting that both of these seem to work on the principle of mirroring other people. Perhaps laughter represents a way of mirroring positive social connection. It's almost impossible to imagine laughter occurring in an anti-social person, no?

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