An Essay on Laughter: Its Forms, Its Causes, Its Development and Its Value

CHAPTER II.. The Smile and the Laugh.

THE SMILE AND THE LAUGH.

Need of studying the bodily process in laughter • 25

Characteristics of the movements of the smile • 26

Expressive function of the smile • 27

Continuity of processes of smiling and laughing • 27

Characteristics of the movements of laughter • 30

Concomitant organic changes during laughter • 33

Physiological benefits of laughing • 34

Effects of excessive laughter • 37

The laugh as expression • 39

Relation of expression to feeling in laughter • 40

Interactions of joyous feeling and organic concomitants • 44

Deviations from the normal type of laugh • 48

CHAPTER III.. Occasions and Causes of Laughter.

OCCASIONS AND CAUSES OF LAUGHTER.

1. Laughter as provoked by sense-stimulus: tickling • 50

Ticklish areas • 52

Characteristics of the sensations of tickling • 53

Motor reactions provoked by tickling • 56

How far attributes of sensation determine laughter of tickling • 57

The mental factor in effect of tickling • 59

Objective conditions of successful tickling • 60

Tickling as appealing to a particular mood • 62

2. Other quasi-reflex forms of laughter • 64

Varieties of automatic or “nervous” laughter • 65

Common element in these varieties: relief from strain • 67

3. Varieties of joyous laughter • 70

Prolonged laughing fit • 73

The essential element in joyous laughter • 75

Occasions of joyous laughter • 76

(a) Play • 76

(b) Teasing as provocative situation • 77

(c) Practical joking and laughter • 78

(d) Laughter as an accompaniment of contest • 78

(e) Occasions of unusual solemnity as provoking laughter • 79

Physiological basis of laughing habit • 80

CHAPTER IV.. Varieties of the Laughable.

VARIETIES OF THE LAUGHABLE.

The objective reference in laughter • 82

Universal element in the laughable • 83

Groups of laughable things • 87

(1) Novelty and oddity • 87

(2) Bodily deformities • 88

(3) Moral deformities and vices • 91

(4) Breaches of order and rule • 94

(5) Small misfortunes • 96

(6) References to the indecent • 98

(7) Pretences • 101

(8) Want of knowledge or skill • 102

(9) Relations of contrariety and incongruity • 107

(10) Verbal play and witticism • 111

Co-operation of different laughable features • 114

(11) Manifestations of playfulness in objects • 116

(12) Spectacle of successful combat • 117

CHAPTER V.. Theories of the Ludicrous.

THEORIES OF THE LUDICROUS.

1. The Theory of Degradation • 119

Aristotle’s theory • 120

Theory of Hobbes • 120

Prof. Bain’s theory • 121

Criticism of theory of degradation • 122

2. Theory of Contrariety or Incongruity • 125

Kant’s theory of nullified expectation • 126

Criticism of Kant’s theory • 126

Function of surprise in effect of the ludicrous • 129

Schopenhauer’s theory of incongruity • 130

Criticism of Schopenhauer’s theory • 132

Different forms of the incongruous • 134

Summary of criticism of theories • 135

Attempts to unify the two principles • 136

The laughable as failure to comply with a social requirement • 139

How primitive laughter comes into effect of the ludicrous • 140

Relation of sudden gladness to release from constraint • 141

Element of contempt in effect of the ludicrous • 142

Laughter and the play-mood • 145

The play-mood in the effects of the ludicrous • 149

Summary of results of inquiry into theories • 153

CHAPTER VI.. The Origin of Laughter.

THE ORIGIN OF LAUGHTER.

Problem of the origin of laughter in the race • 155

Supposed rudiments of mirth in animals • 156

The dog’s manifestations of a sense of fun • 159

The mirthful displays of the ape • 162

First appearance of laughter in child: date of the first smile • 164

Date of the first laugh • 166

The laugh as following the smile • 168

Order of the two in the evolution of the race • 170

Conjecture as to genesis of the human smile • 171

How the primitive smile may have grown into the laugh • 173

Problem of the evolution of the laughter of tickling • 176

Effects of tickling in animals • 177

Date of first response to tickling in the child • 177

Tickling as inheritance from remote ancestors • 178

Value of evolutional theories of tickling • 181

How laughter may have come into tickling • 183

CHAPTER VII.. Development of Laughter During the First Three Years of Life.

DEVELOPMENT OF LAUGHTER DURING THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF LIFE.

Problem of the early development of laughter in the individual • 186

Development of smile and laugh as movements • 188

The general process of emotional development • 189

Relation of laughter of joy to that of play • 194

Development of laughter of joy • 195

Emergence of laughter of surprise • 197

First laughter of release from strain • 197

Crude form of laughter of jubilation • 198

Development of laughter as accompaniment of play • 198

Early forms of laughing impishness • 201

First manifestations of rowdyish laughter • 203

Germs of roguish laughter • 205

First crude perceptions of the laughable • 207

The mirthful greeting of sounds • 209

Early responses to the funny in the visible world • 212

First enjoyment of pretences • 214

Early laughter at the improper • 215

Dim perceptions of the incongruous and the absurd • 216

Early sense of verbal fun • 217

Summary of results • 218

CHAPTER VIII.. The Laughter of Savages.

THE LAUGHTER OF SAVAGES.

Sources of our knowledge of savage laughter • 220

Different views of travellers on the subject • 220

Laughter as a salient characteristic of savages • 223

Descriptions of their movements of laughter • 227

Abundance of good spirits • 228

Laughter as accompaniment of shyness • 228

Laughter and fondness for teasing • 229

Rough practical jokes • 230

The way in which laughter is accepted • 232

Laughter of superiority and contempt • 233

Indecent character of jocosity • 234

Appreciation of the laughably odd • 235

Ridicule of foreign ways • 237

Laughter at the doings of the white man • 238

Laughter of the expert at the ignoramus • 240

Savage society and the white man’s gaucherie • 241

Germ of sense of the absurd • 242

The ridiculing of fellow-tribesmen • 244

Reciprocal laughter of the men and the women • 245

Example of dry humour • 246

Organisation of laughter as entertainment • 247

Germs of the mimetic art • 247

Differentiation of professional jesters, etc. • 249

Amusing songs and stories • 250

Co-existence of different levels of laughter • 251

How to manage the savage by laughter • 252

CHAPTER IX.. Laughter in Social Evolution.

LAUGHTER IN SOCIAL EVOLUTION.

Connection between laughter and social life • 254

Contagiousness of mirth as social quality • 255

Social uses of laughter • 256

Class-differentiation as condition of laughter • 258

How social grouping widens the field of the laughable • 259

Utility of reciprocal group-laughter • 261

Screwing up members of other groups • 261

Laughter of superiors at inferiors • 263

Quizzing of authorities by subjects • 264

Mirthful turning on task-masters • 265

Woman’s laughing retort • 267

Corrective function of laughter of inferiors • 268

Conciliatory service of group-laughter • 269

Summary of social utilities of laughter • 271

Laughter of other groups as corrective of self-importance • 272

Social movements as influencing laughter • 272

Changes of fashion • 273

Fashion and custom • 275

Merry aspects of movements of fashion • 276

Droll side of descent of fashion to lower ranks • 277

Laughter at the old-fashioned • 279

The movement of progress • 279

Mirthful greeting of new ideas and practices • 280

Laughing away effete customs • 281

Influence of mirthful spirit on social changes • 283

Effect of evolution of culture groups • 283

Effect of minuter subdivision of sets • 285

Effect of progress in breaking down group-barriers • 286

Droll aspects of transition of society to a plutocratic form • 287

Refining effect of culture-movement on hilarity • 288

Decline of older voluminous merriment • 290

Conflict between popular mirth and authority • 291

Combination of standards in popular estimate of laughable • 293

Preparation for individual laughter • 295

CHAPTER X.. Laughter of the Individual: Humour.

LAUGHTER OF THE INDIVIDUAL: HUMOUR.

Definition of humour • 297

Characteristics of humour • 298

Intellectual basis of humorous sentiment • 300

Humorous contemplation as binocular • 301

The field of the laughable for the humorist • 302

Modification of the conative attitude in humour • 304

Complexity of humour as feeling • 305

Problem of fusion of dissimilar feelings • 307

Facts explained by our analysis of humour • 310

Variations of humour with race and nationality • 311

Temperament and individuality in humour • 313

Humour as enlarging range of laughing activity • 315

The finer detection of the amusing in character • 315

The appreciation of unfitness of men to circumstances • 317

Character-study as a pastime • 318

Laughter as permeating sphere of serious • 319

Effect of kindliness in extending range of laughter • 320

Scope for amusing form of self-scrutiny • 321

Laughter as mode of self-correction • 322

How humour aids a man in dealing with others • 325

Laughing away the smaller troubles • 326

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