Sophie Scott:

Why we laugh

            Sophie Scott has an amazing approach to discussing laughter. She starts her presentation with hilarious laughs from people throughout the world. Brilliant, because before you even begin to realize what she is talking about you’ve laughed for a solid 2 minutes.

            She talks about why we laugh, explaining the biological response to laughter. People are 30 times more likely to laugh if they are with someone else.

             Laughter is behaviorally contagious; there are two different types of laughter; involuntary laughter, and voluntary laughter. Involuntary laughter is high-pitched. Posed laughter is lower, and ambiguous. Laughter is always meaningful, and people are always trying to interpret the meaning.

            Sophie Scott explains that Robert Livingston is working on a longitudinal study on laughter. It is a phenomenal useful for individuals as they are indexing events. For example when things go wrong, people tend to laugh. The individual, who has the unfortunate experience that might cause pain, will often laugh as well. It is useful in helping people to get through painful or embarrassing moments.

            Marwell & Schmitt's Taxonomy Influence Tactics Positive Expertise:
Speaking as an authority on the subject, I can tell you that rewards will occur if you do X, because of the nature of reality. "If you start working out at our gym regularly, you'll find that people are more attracted to you physically."

            This is the very nature of Sophie Scotts appeal; she wants us to use laughter, and promises positive experiences if we follow her advice.

            Sophie uses the Process Premise of both Needs and Emotions for reasons to use, and seek laughter in our everyday lives. She promotes the social, and emotional benefits of laughter through these process premises’.

            Hilarious!