Why do humans laugh? How does our brain determine what’s funny and what’s not?
In: 860
There are a lot of different theories about humor, so we don’t know for sure, but my favorite is the [Benign Violation theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humor#Benign_violation_theory). Your brain is constantly trying to guess what is going to happen next, and what is going to happen if this thing I just guessed happens. Probably this evolved because it was useful to guess in advance when something is going to be dangerous. This guessing creates expectations of many kinds: physical, social, etc. Sometimes this kind of expectation is violated (it didn’t happen as your brain guessed), which makes the brain always a bit on the edge: maybe it’s going to be dangerous? When the brain then understands that it isn’t dangerous (i.e., it’s benign), the stress from preparing to the potential danger is released – and at the same time, your brain gives a small positive emotion for learning a new thing. These combined means that you are amused. When it is further combined with expectations that are social in nature, this amusement is expressed as laughter, because (as others have explained), it is socially beneficial to signal that you are not angry (and potentially dangerous to others) but enjoying yourself (which makes them like you).
Latest Answers