Viking

Penguin

Laughter: A Scientific Investigation

"Robert Provine did something that no one in the 2000-year history of pontificating about laughter had ever thought to do: he went out to see what makes people laugh." Steven Pinker (How the Mind Works)

Why do we laugh? Laughter has surprisingly little to do with jokes and funny stories. It is an ancient, unconsciously controlled vocal relic that co-exists with modern speech----a social, psychological and biological act which predates humor and is shared with our primate cousins, the great apes. With startling effect, laughter reveals why humans can talk and other apes cannot and leads to the discovery of the event essential for the evolution of human speech and language. Laughter is used as a powerful, uncensored probe into human social relationships, revealing that tickle is an important form of tactile communication, that women laugh more at men than vice-versa, that speakers laugh more than their audience, and that laughter is a social glue that draws group members into the fold. Using the latest evidence, much presented for the first time, Robert Provine evaluates whether you can "laugh your way to health," considers what laughter shows about neuropathology, and suggests how to change environments to increase laughter. The first book to establish laughter as a topic of scientific worth, Laughter includes such esoterica as the history of holy laughter, operatic laughter, laugh records, laughing gas, canned laughter, and a description of the Tanganyikan laughter epidemic that immobilized an entire school district during 1962. Simple but powerful exercises in "sidewalk neuroscience" let readers participate in the scientific adventure, confirming and extending the research. This book will change forever the way you view laughter. Laughter is even stranger than you imagine.

About the Author

Robert R. Provine is Professor of Psychology and Assistant Director of the Neuroscience Program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has authored over 50 research papers concerning developmental neuroscience and the neural mechanisms of behavior, conducting studies on over 30 species, using techniques ranging from electrophysiology and tissue culture to field studies. He came to the study of laughter and human ethology from a background in neuroembryology, having studied and published with Nobel Prize (Rita Levi-Montalcini) and National Medal of Science (Viktor Hamburger) winners. A scholar who has lectured in North America and Europe in settings ranging from medical school departments of neurology to NASA, NIST and grade schools, he has received research grants from the National Institutes of Health. His work has been featured in dozens of articles worldwide, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph (London), Le Figaro, National Geographic, Psychology Today, Equinox (Canada), New Scientist, Discover, Science et Avenir, the Observer (London), Panorama (Italy), Focus (Germany), The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. His numerous televisio appearances include "Good Morning America," "ABC World News Tonight" "Eye to Eye" (CBS), "20/20" (ABC) and specials on The Learning Channel ("Understanding Laughter" -- with Bill Cosby), The Discover Channel ("Laughter"-- with Conan O'Brien), and BBC Horizon ("Beyond the Joke"). His radio appearances include "All Things Considered" (NPR), "Morning Edition" (NPR), "Talk of the Nation" (NPR) and "Talk of the Nation--Science Friday" (NPR). When not doing science, Professor Provine enjoys stargazing, optics, and martial arts, serving as advisor and instructor of the University Tae Kwon Do Club. He is married to pianist and musicologist Helen Weems and has two adult children.