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.

ISBN-13: 9780141002255

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Publication Date: 12-01-2001

Pages: 272

Product Dimensions: 5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.60(d)

Age Range: 18 Years

Robert R. Provine has authored more than fifty research articles concerning developmental neuroscience and animal and human behavior. He has appeared on Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, 20/20, and Scientific American Frontiers.

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From the Publisher

"[A] well-written, often amusing and always fascinating exposé." —Scientific American

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Laughter: An Introduction
2. The Road Not Taken: Philosophical and Theoretical Approaches to Laughter
3. Natural History of Laughter
4. Cracking the Laugh Code: From Sound Lab to Opera Studio
5. Chimpanzee Laughter, Speech Evolution, and Paleohumorology
6. Ticklish Relationships
7. Contagious Laughter and the Brain
8. Abnormal and Inappropriate Laughter: Clinical Perspectives
9. Laughing Your Way to Health
Appendix: Ten Tips for Increasing Laughter: Perspectives from the Mall, Workplace, and Clinic
Notes
References
Index Show More