Laughter Is Social

Laughter is first a social signal, not a reaction to comedy. We laugh up to thirty times more in groups than alone—and most often at perfectly banal sentences.

In the 1990s, neuroscientist Robert Provine records thousands of bursts of laughter in the street, and his finding is puzzling: most follow no joke but punctuate very ordinary exchanges, like "see you later?" Laughter structures conversation much more than it salutes humor. Laughter is first a social signal, not a reaction to comedy.

It's also contagious and almost impossible to fake, because triggered by others' laughter, it largely escapes will—which explains the effectiveness of recorded laughter introduced from the 1950s on television to trigger audience laughter. We then understand that it's less a reaction to comedy than a signal addressed to others. We laugh up to thirty times more in groups than alone—and most often at perfectly banal sentences.

Laughter thus appears as a bonding mechanism inherited from our primate ancestors and prior to language, which serves first to synchronize a group and signal safety and connivance, well before rewarding a good joke.