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[11. Okt 2021|18:00] |
in human infants, laughter is one of the first social vocalizations (early onset at approximately 4 months of age)
the functional role of humour in a proximal (psychology and physiology) or ultimate (natural selection) sense:
1) superiority theory: central function of humour is to maintain social order and to reinforce social bonding by allowing people to express disagreeable feelings in a more positive way
2) tension-relief theory conceptualizes humour as a mechanism for physiological release of tension
3) sexual selection theory: humour is proposed to act as a fitness indicator that provides mating partners with information about underlying mate quality, especially for women judging men
we propose that rigorous scientific study of the neural basis of humour will shed light on the importance of humour to the human experience. our understanding of how individual variation influences communication and adaptation (both in health and in illnesses in which humour may be adversely affected; for example, brain disorders such as autism, major depression and schizophrenia) may also be enhanced through brain-based research.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3566 |
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