https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/minds-business/laughter-conveys-social-status.html
Fun Fact: Humans will instinctively look at the person they most desire approval from and safety with first when they laugh. Can confirm, this is a damn fine way to get an idea of who’s got an eye for you in a friend group.
Most (if not all) comedy relies upon a social status change. The “butt” of a joke is diminished. This social context diminishment is recognized and the rapid breathing response, laughter, is the acknowledgement. A group will prevail in reinforcing this awareness, however an individual will put themselves at risk for targeting by the diminished party. Strength and humour in numbers.
This is what scientist mean when they say we are a “social species” our brains are highly tuned to understand what people are feeling/saying through body language and vocalization. Working in a group means better survival odds, so if a group of people are having fun you’re brain desperately wants to be a part of the group and laughing is a no-brainer, low effort way to show you are amicable, not threatening, and want to cooperate with the group
It’s not really known why but laughter being contagious is thought to be some sort of laugh detector in humans. Possibly a neural circuit in the brain that responds exclusively to laughter and generates a response of laughter, similar to contagious yawning. It’s brain chemistry. As to what purpose this served evolutionarily, maybe it’s a bonding thing that helped humans to relate to one another and come together as a social species.
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