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.
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