page_title: Laughter
section_title: Modern laughter and humor
hierarchical_section_title: Laughter / Research / Modern laughter and humor
caption_attribution_description: English: Harold Lloyd giving his famous grin in Who's Who on the Screen, 1920. Many advertisements during this time were based on this photograph.
context_page_description: Laughter is a physical reaction in humans consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system resulting most commonly in forms of "hee-hee" or "ha-ha". It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laughter can arise from such activities as being tickled, or from humorous stories or thoughts. Most commonly, it is considered a auditory expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, relief, etc. On some occasions, however, it may be caused by contrary emotional states such as embarrassment, surprise, or confusion such as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh. Age, gender, education, language, and culture are all indicators as to whether a person will experience laughter in a given situation. Some other species of primate show laughter-like vocalizations in response to physical contact such as wrestling, play chasing or tickling.
  Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain, helping humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and providing an emotional context to conversations.
context_section_description: There is a wide range of experiences with laughter. A 1999 study by two humor researchers asked 80 people to keep a daily laughter record, and found they laughed an average of 18 times per day. However, their study also found a wide range, with some people laughing as many as 89 times per day, and others laughing as few as 0 times per day.
caption: Comedian Harold Lloyd laughing.
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