Giggling "Toadsies": Completely Unnecessary Laughter in the Drunken State

        Last week, as I was returning from the library at around 2 am in the morning, I encountered a group of couples returning from Toad’s Place in a drunken stagger. Most couples seemed relatively regular, but for one couple in particular, the female’s only response to any statement made by the male was a five-second giggle. Looking at the situation, there seems to be a simple explanation for the laughter: the girl was affected by increased alcohol levels such that she was only able to respond in this way. However, if we look at a similar situation, in which the subjects are sober, then we can come to the conclusion that the drunken effects are not the only thing fueling the giddy response.

        There is no doubt that the female subject’s actions can be blamed on the alcohol. As humans, we are equipped with the ability to form coherent thoughts and ideas. However, alcohol reduces these effects as it slurs our speech, impairs memory and slows reaction times. Therefore, as a depressant, this socially accepted drug minimizes the ability to decipher between what is funny and what is not. We see this clearly demonstrated in the example above. The drunk female clearly found everything funny; her male companion was simply listing the things he was going to do tomorrow, and she was giggling after every comma.  So this instance of public laughter occurred due to a minimizing of the human mental state, and thus had nothing to do with the girl finding the joke funny.

        Though this situation seems to be fully explained using the logic above, if we ponder a similar, sober situation, we can see that there may be other reasons for this occurrence of laughter. It may be a stereotype that girls laugh at everything guys say, but it is one that I have personally observed to be true at least in several cases. It is not unlikely that this drunk female still was able to perceive her environment, and recognized herself in the presence of a “hot dude”. So in this case, the girl’s laughter represented not only an uninhibited cacophony, but also a deliberate flirting attempt. So because we know that even sober girls often laugh at unfunny statements, we can conclude that this completely unnecessary laughter resulted from the combination of alcohol and a forced response.

        While laughter may indicate an identification of something funny, it is more often than not influenced by other things. In the case of the drunken “Toadsies”, laughter was brought on by both alcoholic inhibition release and a deliberate action to flirt. In today’s world, it is clear that you can no longer rely on the response of laughter to gauge the funniness of a situation; there are just too many outside variables to have a reliable conclusion. So the male in this situation would have been way off track in feeling pretty confident at having amused his lady friend; at most he should have placed his confidence in just being able to support her!

Laughter at an MC Slipup: Proof for Laughter in a Serious Situation

At an on-campus performance yesterday, I was able to experience several performances of African and African American culture sprinkled in between what I had to assume was the main act: the MCs' performance. Sharing one mike, the two boys had a field day with clearly rehearsed, rather lengthy, and not to mention really lame, transition sequences. The dialogues received some polite laughter from the audience, but it was during one particular dialogue, which actually turned out to be a monologue, that all onlookers burst into genuine laughter that lasted for more than just a few seconds. After positioning themselves on the stage and awaiting attention, one MC started,

“Well, that was a wonderful performance. Anyway, now let us…”

 I really didn’t hear anything after that; his words were drowned in laughter.

After the fact, someone commented that it was the funniest part of the show, which said a lot considering that one of the performances was a stand-up comedy sequence. That caused me to reflect a bit, wondering why the laughter during that event was the most genuine at a point in time when it was really unwarranted; the sentence was in no way a joke, and the MC was not trying to be funny at all, unlike all the other times. Using the relief theory of laughter, which explains to us that laughter occurs as a result of the relief of tension, we can understand why everyone laughed at this serious part of the performance.

The MC caught us by surprise, and so we laughed. Throughout the entire performance, the two MCs put on their highly rehearsed “witty” banter, which even seemed a bit over acted. But it was as if this MC forgot his role at this point, leading him to deliver the layman sentence. The audience was geared up, anticipating another two minute long exchange. So, when they were presented with a fifteen second statement, though it was not necessarily funny, laughter occurred as a release of the buildup of anticipation.

Furthermore, the slightly offensive nature of the statement explains the occurrence of laughter. It is quite likely that the MC did not intend to offend the previous performer, but that one word “anyway” translated in our minds to say,

“I had to say it was a good performance, but it really wasn’t. Now that we’re finally done with that one, now we can move on to this, hopefully more intriguing, act.”

Whether or not he meant it, that’s what it sounded like, and in order to release the tense environment that arrived with the "diss", the audience had to laugh.

This double tension release allowed laughter to occur in this seemingly unfunny environment. We weren’t laughing at the lame joke (there was none), nor were we laughing at the MCs antics (he was acting totally serious at the time). The laughter occurred due to unfulfilled expectation and a probable case of human offence. It is ironic, though, that laughter did not occur due to the irony of the situation; surely the audience did not realize at the time that the least attempt at funniness was indeed the most funny!

Solitary Laughter in A Public Setting: It’s Not So Crazy After All...

            A few weeks ago, I had an eventful wait at the intersection by Commons dining hall. The road space was quite narrow due to the presence of large mounds of snow on either side of the road, and an impatient truck-driver decided to drive on the left in order to beat the buildup of traffic. However, he was met by a tiny vehicle, which, by law, had the right of way. As the small car inched forward, from the truck flowed a great number of expletives; for some reason I found this instance quite funny, and erupted in laughter. At the time, I thought that my laughter was somewhat irrational, as did many persons around who had just shifted their focus from the happenings on the road to me. However, after discussing the topic with my good friend Plato, I realized that this instance of solitary laughter in a public setting is rational and can easily be explained using the Superiority theory.

            While discussing with an old family friend, Plato, over a cup of tea and biscuits, he told me about an interesting explanation of the cause of laughter in a situation such as the one I experienced. His Superiority theory states that laughter occurs at the expense of others who are experiencing misfortune, and that the laugher perceives that the subject of laughter is inferior, and thus asserts the superiority of the laugher in the situation. In short, we laugh at the joy of feeling superior to a fellow human.

            However selfish this explanation may sound, it definitely makes a valid reason for the cause of my laughter. In the aforementioned situation, the inferior parties are both the aggressive truck driver and the timid tiny vehicle owner. I myself am a driver, and I perceived the truck driver as inferior to myself because he was breaking the law, while his slew of expletives showed that he didn’t seem to realize that. If I were breaking the law, I would not have gone further to intimidate the driver who had the right-of-way, and thus I saw myself as superior to the truck driver and may laughter expressed the joy that came with the superior feeling.

            This theory furthermore explains my laughter in the sense that I felt superior to the driver of the tiny vehicle as well. It was clear that she had the right of way, but her actions did not express that. In her situation, I would not have inched, I would have demanded the road that was legally mine, or at least I thought so at the time. In retrospect, I might have acted similarly, faced with the sheer size of the truck approaching me. Anyway, what counts are my thoughts at the point of laughter, and these indicated that I felt superior to the woman being cursed at in her tiny car, and the joy that came from this feeling of superiority caused my laughter.

            This public, solitary laughter could easily be explained by the theory proposed by my good friend.  Although I seemed like a lunatic laughing in a group of people, yet still all by myself, my laughter was actually not irrational, since there was a valid reason for the laughter that occurred. Therefore, we see that solitary laughter in public is not always irrational; so fret not, not every person who laughs alone in public has just escaped from the psych ward.

Alliances in Laughter: What Causes Laughter in Embarassing Situations?

            Imagine sitting in a dentist’s office with a friend, waiting for what seems like hours on end for your name to be called. In the silence, you hear a familiar series of popping sounds coming from the opposite side of the room, which you immediately link to the occurrence of someone passing wind. You may quickly glance around the room in an attempt to locate the culprit, but eventually, you look at your friend, who you find looking right back at you, bursting with readiness to laugh. Though you both laugh in embarrassing public situations such as this, your laughter is caused not by the immediate situation, but by the added situation of an alliance.

            Embarrassing situations occurring in public do not directly cause laughter. This can easily be proven by substituting your friend in the above situation for just another patient waiting to be called. We would all agree that, given the same embarrassing sound and smell emitted from across the room, your reaction would have been different. Being unaccompanied, you may glance up, but even as the unpleasant smell engulfed the air around your nose, you would not laugh. Not only is it impolite to laugh, but presented with just the situation, we can see that it just isn’t funny. Since laughter does not ensue on a normal occurrence of the action, it indicates that the embarrassing situation is not the direct cause of laughter.

            In analyzing the two similar situations in which laughter occurs, and does not occur, it is apparent that the cause of laughter is due to that which differs in the situations. In the situation during which laughter occurs, we see two persons who share a background; in the second case, this is not present. The presence of this group or alliance is therefore the cause of laughter. We can furthermore explain the reason why the alliance causes laughter as due to a sense of comfort and community that arises. In essence, you laugh because you feel at ease in the situation with your friend, as well as because you know that there is someone else who will laugh with you.

            Looking more deeply into this situation sheds light on the reason why embarrassing situations that occur often in public are not always associated with laughter. The answer lies in the true reason for laughter; if a group of persons, who share an intimate background, experience the embarrassing situation of a person outside their group, the comfort they feel surpasses the social protocol to withhold laughter, thus causing laughter, even if the situation is not funny. It is therefore beneficial to keep away from alliances, in war, and more importantly, in embarrassing public situations.

Laughing with Authority: Why Do Subordinates Laugh at Superiors' Jokes?

            If you bump into your Dean in an elevator, he might greet you with some witty comment. To make your presence felt, you'll simply laugh, and nothing else will come out of your mouth. I like to call the laughter that occurs in such situations “schmooze laughter”.  It usually happens at study breaks as well as at staff parties, where persons are pushed just a little out of their comfort zones. An onlooker may assume that this “schmooze laughter” represents a superficial expression. However, this instance of laughter shows release of true emotion; in fact, it explains itself well by using the Relief theory, which describes laughter as a release of built up tension.

            Upon unexpectedly meeting an authority figure, a person develops a sense of inferiority. In the case of the student and Dean, for example, the student mentally finds himself below the Dean. This occurs because the student knows he has something to gain from the situation. I mean, the Dean might one day write him a recommendation if he plays his cards right. When a person is in need, he feels inferior to his donor. So since the authority figure does not have any benefits from this situation, and the subordinate person does, he feels inferior to the authority figure.

            This inferiority complex that develops promotes nervousness in the subordinate. As the student tries to put his words together, he chides himself for not having a predetermined set of phrases to use should such a beneficial situation arise. Due to the “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve”, the delay increases and this causes even more frustration. If only there was elevator music to break the silence. Just like nervousness which occurs just before a pop quiz, the unexpected chance to succeed causes nervousness in the company of an authority figure.

            Genuine laughter occurs when this nervousness is released. In the student’s case, the nervousness relieves itself when the Dean makes his witty comment. These actions may seem unlinked, but the student’s nervousness was relieved when he stopped thinking about something to say and responded as quickly as possible. This release of nervousness and the response coincided in a laugh. Because the laugh was not deliberate, and instead was a spontaneous release, it cannot represent a superficial expression. Its genuine nature is in fact two fold.

            The relief theory adequately explains the occurrence of “schmooze laughter” and also indicates that such laughter is indeed genuine. In situations with authority figures and subordinates, the subordinate laughs at the witty comment not through superficial courtesy as a viewer might imply, but instead through genuine tension release. The striking aspect of this is that it occurs whether or not the joke is funny. So you can’t always take someone’s laughter as appreciation of your joke, especially if you’re in high authority!