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ISSUE 1
If you’re like me, you’ve had your fair
share of awkward moments. A lot of
mine revolve around the fact that I cannot
control when I laugh. I laughed when my
friend told me that she and her girlfriend
had broken up. I make jokes about awful
situations, as well as during sad and
angering scenarios. I joke around during
serious talks between myself and my
parents. I have depression, and lots of
times people think that I’m ok because of
how often I make them laugh. So I can say
with certainty that it was a relief when I
discovered that I wasn’t broken; in fact,
I’m just one of many who use humour
to deal with fairly large problems. Many
people use humour or laughter to cope
with stressful and hard situations.
According to Keltner and Bonanno (1997),
laughing helps us respond to stress by
“increasing the psychological distance
from distress and by enhancing social
relations.” In other words, we laugh in
times of distress because sometimes
our minds cannot handle the stress.
Think about it, whenever something bad
happens, it can be hard to process. Your
brain deals with this trouble processing
by laughing, which releases a bunch
of endorphins, increases personal
satisfaction, and improves your mood—
all of these help deal with stress (Mayo
Clinic Staff 2013). By creating these
physiological changes to make your body
think it’s happy, you put distance between
yourself and the situation. Also, think
about how laughing and joking around
play a huge part in our socialization.
Laughing is one of the biggest socializing
elements. In times of distress, your mind
craves human contact and interaction (to
help deal with the stress), so it makes
sense that it would laugh to increase
those chances.
There’s also another reason the brain
might force us into laughter. As humans,
we are generally very good at reading
people’s emotions. We know when
someone is smiling out of politeness
or, in this case, when someone laughs
without feeling a positive emotion.
People who are not as good at hiding
their true emotions are more likely
to do this fake-laugh, which could be a
signal to others that we are in distress.
The brain may do this in order to raise
the likelihood of someone coming to find
out what is causing the stress (Keltner &
Bonanno 1997).
With this information in mind, it’s easy to
see why the brain would sometimes think
that having us laugh is the best course of
action. It may be inconvenient and possibly
a social faux-pas, our brain is just trying
to look out for us. Now I understand why
I make so many jokes when I’m feeling
so down; my brain is trying to find ways
to help me cope with the stress. So the
next time you find yourself laughing when
you think you shouldn’t, remember that it
may help you in the long run.
Citation:
Keltner, D., & Bonanno, G. A. (1997). A Study of Laughter
and Dissociation: Distinct Correlates of Laughter and
Smiling During Bereavement. Journal Of Personality &
Social Psychology, 73(4), 687-702.
Mayo Clinic Staff (2013). Stress relief from laughter? It’s
no joke. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
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