Science reasons why bosses rarely laugh…

A friend recently admitted to me that he never understood his assigned roommate’s humour all throughout the two years they were together, but always gave a nice hahaha at the end of the joke since he wanted to be congenial. I can recount endless times when I have burst into a fit of laughter and I have no idea what the joke is! Mostly the laughter of my dear joke teller has been infectious enough, much like a sound track on our daily sitcoms for me to go giggling away; and my guffaws enough to get my sweet confused friends break into a belly-aching, tear inducing laughter spree!

Now all of us, according to a research released recently, laugh not always because we find something very funny, but because of our social status. The Boss will not laugh at a joke by the subordinate in front of the team unless he wants to cut the ice and be the “pally-boss”; the uptight boss though actually is a jolly and goofy type with his friends as there he does not need to prove his intellectual strength, power and is by status among 'equals'. The junior though will laugh at his boss’ joke not always to please, but genuinely because he is in a position not to lose face even if he laughs at a stupid joke, as he is already (perhaps only ‘subconsciously’) not as smart as per dictum of the hierarchy.

Confused? Well the logic is simple – we laugh not because it is funny, but because we want to make friends! Oh come on, truthfully tell me how many times have you actually feigned a little chuckle when you had no clue what the joke was, but every one else has broken into a guffaw? Well, that was to win the approval of your friends around you. If you have overheard a superbly funny joke from an adjacent dinner table will you be chortling away like crazy? No, because you are not part of that social group.



HISTORY:

Now, for a little fact here: Laughter is truly contagious. History bears witness to a laughter epidemic that lasted for six months in Tanganyika. A couple of school kids heard a joke and supposedly laughed uncontrollably. Their laughter spread to adjoining schools and their parents; with the whole village and surrounding villages soon caught in the same fit! The laughter epidemic caused schools to close for half a year! (Wonder what the joke was?)

So, does the theory apply here? Well, if you again go into that time, then we see that at that time the populus was stressed about its new found freedom, and impending grouping with another country Zanzibar to make Tanzania. Clearly, the laughter was the same trick my friend was using to get along with his roommate and make the atmosphere more amiable.



YEAH, RIGHT!

Now, if only laughter could be the only disease we humans be inflicted with…

And I hope you figured why the thin line stretched across your boss’ face rarely curls up. It is not your spate of poor jokes, but compelling neuroscience! (Yeah, I am not funny, it is neuroscience;-))


(PS: The research has been done by laughter researcher Robert R. Provine of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Of course, his research papers in the past have included studying the behavioural pattern of a (don’t save your screams) cockroach, and also the contagious effect of yawning!).

Read more on: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/science/13tier.html?ex=1174708800&en=2e572727cb169597&ei=5070