An article in The Straits Times section “Mind Your Body” about laughter as a means of communication and a kind of “social glue” caught my attention, and I thought it would be interesting for us to share on the blog our thoughts and experiences with laughter as a means of communication.
A brief outline of the article “Send in the Clowns” (Source: The Straits Times, Mind Your Body, Gary Hayden)
- Laughter is a basic pleasure, akin to the pleasures of eating, drinking and having sex.
- Laughter keeps our minds flexible and adaptable and contributes to our survival because it helps us to respond creatively to new and unexpected situations.
- Laughter is a means of communication which develops a stronger bond between two persons, depending on the extent of laughter. The social bonding theory of laughter explains that we are 30 times more likely to laugh when we are in company. Dr Robert Provine, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, said: “Laughter is a message we send to other people. We know this because we rarely laugh when we are alone. We laugh to ourselves even less than we talk to ourselves.” Laughter is powerful also because it cuts across language and cultural barriers. People of every nationality can speak and understand the universal language of laughter.
For the purpose of this course, we’ll discuss the communication aspect of laughter and leave the others for another time.
Laughter is no doubt a communication tool in all societies and some call it the “punctuation” in everyday speech. Laughter can be a bane or boon in communication though, and it very much depends on the context of the situation and the reason for laughing. For example, laughter is an effective means of communication in a nervous situation, where people tend to laugh to make others feel more comfortable. In other situations, laughter evokes trust and avoids the “flight or fright response”. In an office setting, an employee laughing at a boss’s joke will serve to establish a rapport between the employer and employee. On the other hand, laughter can also be exploited by some as a communication tool to manipulate and control a relationship. Another scenario where laughter as a communication tool leads to negative implications would be the use of it to ridicule and ostracise another person. However, laughter can serve as an enjoyable social corrective in some instances because people are less likely to repeat their mistakes for fear of evoking laughter from others or ourselves. The situations and intentions for laughing therefore result in different responses to laughter and achieve different outcomes.
With regards to intercultural communications, laughter may lead to misinterpretation amongst people of different cultural groups for the same reason, and even more so because of inherent cultural differences. Some people see laughter as a universal language which transcends language and cultural barriers but I feel that cultural differences can affect the interpretation of laughter in some situations. In Milford, Patricia’s paper “Laughter as Communication: Some Intercultural Implications”, she explains three manifestations of laughter and only one of the three conveys a constant meaning across cultures, and that is the reflex response to a particular physical stimulus. The second manifestation depends on the socially learned behaviours of the heterogeneous groups and only when they share the similar attitudes or experiences will they benefit from laughing together. The third manifestation of laughter is where laughter encodes semantic meanings significant to the receiver and sender and depends on the context for interpretation, as I have discussed earlier.
We see from here that laughter as a means of communication is as likely to result in misunderstandings as any other forms of communication, but when used appropriately, is an effective tool to bridge relationships, heal hurts and bring joy to people around us.
Feel free to share anecdotes where laughter was used to your advantage/disadvantage while communicating with others or any thoughts on this topic. Share jokes if you want, I’m sure we all need a good laugh! :)
Here’s one to start the week…
A sign outside a secondhand shop
WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING - BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?
Hi Grace,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that laughter can be a good form of communication. It is the form of non-verbal communication that is recognized worldwide. However as you mentioned, we should be very cautious as people may be easily offended if you fail to abide by some cultural issue, for example it is not a good to laugh in a funeral. I must say that I also use laughter a lot of time if my friends tend to clash in their ideas. For example in group meetings, a good joke at the right time can chill the atmosphere. To add on, I would like to share a joke with all you.
Question - What do women and tax forms have in common?
Answer - Men love to cheat on them.
Yo Grace,
ReplyDeleteIt is great to laugh! It breaks down barriers, brings people closer, eases nervous settings and helps forge friendships.
I don't recall any particular humor or joke or whatever, but humor is a good way to let a guy have "台to下" i.e. allow him to save face if he makes a mistake, and laughs at his own mistake as a joke to entertain the crowd. "Woah you didn't actually believe that did you. / That was a negative demonstration, now for the REAL stuff". Thus good humor is a useful skill to have as well!
Hmm.. I'm bored, so here's a joke with local context.
****
Ah Beng and Ah Seng went to a hawker centre. Ah Seng noticed the hygiene grades issued by the Ministry of Health pasted at each stall and asked Ah Beng, "Eh, the 'A', 'B', 'C' 'D' stand for what ah?"
Ah Beng snorted and said, "Aiyah, this sort of thing you also donno! 'D' stand for 'delicious', 'C' stand for 'can eat', 'B' stand for 'buay sai' (cannot) and 'A' stand for 'Alamak'!"
^ above joke was taken from TalkingCock.com.
ReplyDeleteThere is no intention to degrade, or comment negatively about Singapore or MOH's standards (which is more or less phased out, isn't it?), but a light hearted banter about two typical ignorant Singaporeans.
Excellent post, Grace! Laughter in the context of communication is a very novel topic, and I especially like the way you have sourced info from the article in the Straits Times in such an informative way. I also appreciate your very astute analysis/interpretation. You've also inspired humor on the part of your classmates. (Love the Ah Beng joke!) I wish my mind was fresh enough to contribute, but it isn't.
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing this up!
Hi, great to have you all visiting my blog! Thanks for sharing your experiences! Yup, laughing at inappropriate occasions like a funeral definitely shows a lack of respect and sensitivity to the family that is mourning. To quote the apostle Paul, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn." There is a time and place for everything, and laughter, because of its strong association with happiness, would seem quite inappropriate at a funeral.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how the use of laughter to "save face" was brought up and guys were mentioned specifically. Are guys more "face-conscious" than girls? Haha...I think it's natural for us, both guys and girls, to have silly moments where we wished we could just dig a hole and burrow our heads in it. Injecting humour at these instances would definitely turn the situation to our advantage, but it certainly requires some eloquence and brain- twisting to pull it off well. I think I still have lots to learn in this aspect.:)
Hi Grace! Hope I'm not too late to comment on your post!
ReplyDeleteLaughter is the best medicine! It really makes the conversation less tense and nervous! I like to make people laugh, although I fail most of the time!
In order to evoke laughter from the listener, we also need the 7Cs though. What if the person doesn't get the joke because we did not convey it well enough? That would make the conversation even more awkward, and potentially be a 'conversation stopper'!
I have a friend who seems to do in-depth analysis of all the jokes people tell her. Rather than taking it lightly, she likes to decipher every word of the joke and rebut the logic/humor behind it. What a conversational stopper!
Cheers =D
Hi Chee Kiang, thank you for sharing your experiences with laughter! Your friend should really loosen up a little, I bet she'll find more pleasure in life!:)In my blog post, I mentioned that laughter serves as a 'social glue', bonding people together. Besides being a 'conversation stopper', I think your friend's habit of rationalising a joke may also prevent her from developing any close friendship or bond with another person.
ReplyDeleteYup, I guess the 7Cs are also applicable in verbal communication, such as telling a joke, besides written communication. Thanks for the reminder!
Hi Grace,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that laughter is a form of communication tool in all societies and like the fact that you mentioned it as being the "punctuation" in conversations.
I feel that laughter can always play to our advantage as long as we are sensitive to the feelings of the opposition. Laughing can ease tense situation and brighten the day of everybody.
I somehow feel that the character of the person who is evoking the laughter also plays a part in whether the joke or comment connects with the others too. For example, 2 person of different character making the same joke can receive different responses from the same audience. Likewise, the character of the audience receiving the comment will also determine how is the message perceived.
In conclusion, i feel that for laughter to be an effective communication tool, we must be sensitive to the feelings and the situation when we want to evoke laughter. On the other hand, we should try to be less sensitive and less offended when we are at the receiving end of the comment or the centre of the joke.
To round up, here's a joke which i heard over the radio. Mary decided to bring her 2-month old baby girl along to a high class restaurant where she will be meeting her best friend for dinner. Unfortunately, she forgot the milk powder and have no choice but to breast-feed her child. Coincidentally, another guest had a terrible tummy upset and was stuck in the toilet. Therefore, Mary had no choice but to feed her baby at a corner of the restaurant because her baby was already crying in hunger. While Mary was feeding her baby, she attracted a lot of unwanted stares and the manager on duty really admired her courage. However, after 5 minutes, the manager had no choice but to politely ask Mary to stop what she was doing and continue outside the premises. Can anyone guess what's the reason?
Reason: There's was a sign on the wall that says "SORRY NO OUTSIDE FOOD ALLOWED". HAHA
Hope you guys liked it.
Yup Terence, I agree with you. There are certainly some situations, where joking is more acceptable than others and some people whom you are more likely to joke with than others. It really depends on how much you know the person eh? hmm... yah, people should take things easy and laugh more. Less stress, less conflict, less animosity and less war. More fun, more laughter, more peace and more joy!!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I have heard of people who take laughing courses to practice laughing, because they think it is good for their health. Interesting...:)