To begin with, it relieves tension. More relaxed Extension workers, like surgeons, athletes, and politicians, will consistently outperform uptight counterparts. Laughter is also the shortest distance between two people. Human differences can be mediated by mirth and play. Jealousy, bickering, turf and status differences between county and state staff, home economics and agriculture, or just in our own offices can become less burdensome over a joke or good laugh.
Laughter loosens fixed positions in the mind.
In both humor and creative thinking, a person's intellect is confronted with something beyond the ordinary which is seen as an amusing or unique idea. Playfulness and laughter will condition our minds to perceive ordinary information in unusual patterns and connections. Equally important, it enables us to give new ideas a fair trial. Humor may have the added bonus of improving our health. Selye discovered early in his research that stress caused biochemical changes in animals and humans.