Laughter: A Scientific Investigation
by Robert R. Provine
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert R. ProvineEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-12-01
ISBN: 0141002255
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation
Book Review: Worth a look, but.... 3.7 stars
Summary: 4 Stars
_Laughter: a Scientific Investigation_ is just that. Too professorial for easy reading, but some cool, unobvious stuff. For instance, speakers laugh more than their audiences (doh), and women laugh at men more than men laugh at women. Well, maybe not so unobvious after all <G>
Anyway, here's his Laugh Matrix, where S = speaker and A = audience
... ........ Number of ..... ...... % Laughing
... ........ Episodes ....... Speaker ... Audience
S(male) A(male) ...... 275 ... 76% ...60%
S(fem) A(fem) ... ... 502 ..... ..86 .. .. .. 50
S(m)A(f) ... .. ......238 .... ...66 .. .... 71
S(f)A(m) ... .. ......185 .... ... 80 .. ....55
Hmm, be darned if I can get this to format right in Ammie's primitive word-processor. Sorry!
He also suckered some poor grad student and his (Provine's) wife(!) into analyzing 60 opera scores to see how the composers scored laughter. The sensible ones simply insert "laugh" into the score. Or, in the case of I Pagliacci, Leoncavallo instructs the singer to "laugh bitterly". In Italian, ie "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!"
He notes that "at study's end, we faced a sober reckoning. We learned a lot more about opera than about laughter..."
Oh, and laugh tracks really do work. He watched some sexy tickling videos, too.
I was skimming towards the end, when the book came due, and didn't feel compelled to renew it. Great cover, though.
Happy reading--
Pete Tillman
Summary of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation
Do men and women laugh at the same things?
Is laughter contagious?
Has anyone ever really died laughing?
Is laughing good for your health?
Drawing upon ten years of research into this most common-yet complex and often puzzling-human phenomenon, Dr. Robert Provine, the world's leading scientific expert on laughter, investigates such aspects of his subject as its evolution, its role in social relationships, its contagiousness, its neural mechanisms, and its health benefits. This is an erudite, wide-ranging, witty, and long-overdue exploration of a frequently surprising subject.
Is laughter contagious?
Has anyone ever really died laughing?
Is laughing good for your health?
Drawing upon ten years of research into this most common-yet complex and often puzzling-human phenomenon, Dr. Robert Provine, the world's leading scientific expert on laughter, investigates such aspects of his subject as its evolution, its role in social relationships, its contagiousness, its neural mechanisms, and its health benefits. This is an erudite, wide-ranging, witty, and long-overdue exploration of a frequently surprising subject.
Is it really the best medicine? Neurobiologist Robert R. Provine discovered that no scientist had ever looked into the weird, uncontrollable, and very human phenomenon of laughter, so he started off on his own. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation is his warm and--of course--funny report on how and why we giggle and snort with such regularity. Basing his views on field research conducted in a broad array of social situations (laughter being notoriously difficult to evoke in the laboratory), Provine posits that we use it as a universal, preverbal means of communication. Though animal research is controversial, it suggests that apes establish and maintain relationships using laughlike behavior, so it could be the missing link between animal communication and true language. He also explores instances in which we seem to laugh our way into and out of social situations, and includes a list of tips for keeping the laughs flowing. The irony of the scientific community not taking laughter seriously isn't lost on Provine, and he takes every opportunity to remind his fellows that even the seemingly most trivial matters can hide the most profound truths. If that isn't funny, what is? --Rob Lightner
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