首页
登录
职称英语
Laughter is a fundamental part of everyday life. It is so common that we for
Laughter is a fundamental part of everyday life. It is so common that we for
游客
2023-10-12
17
管理
问题
Laughter is a fundamental part of everyday life. It is so common that we forget how strange— and important—it is. Indeed, laughter is a "speaking in tongues" in which we’re moved by an unconscious response to social and linguistic cues. Stripped of its variation and nuance, laughter is a regular series of short vowel-like syllables usually transcribed as "ha-ha" , "ho-ho" or "hee-hee". These syllables are part of the universal human vocabulary, produced and recognized by people of all cultures.
Given the universality of the sound, our ignorance about the purpose and meaning of laughter is remarkable. We somehow laugh at just the right times, without consciously knowing why we do it. Most people think of laughter as a simple response to comedy, or a cathartic mood-lifter. Instead , after ten years of research on this little-studied topic, I concluded that laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together.
Students in my classes confirmed the social nature of laughter by recording the circumstances of their laughter in diaries. After excluding the effects of media, the fact was striking: Laughter was thirty times more frequent in social than solitary situation and it’s a signal we send to others and it virtually disappears when we lack an audience.
As anyone who has ever laughed at the sight of someone doubled over can attest, laughter is contagious. Because our laughter is under minimal conscious control, it is spontaneous and relatively uncensored. Contagious laughter is a compelling display of Homo sapiens, a social mammal. It strips away our outer layer of culture and challenges the hypothesis that we are in full control of our behavior. From these synchronized vocal outbursts come insights into the neurological roots of human social behavior and speech.
The irresistibility of others’ laughter has its roots in the neurological mechanism of laugh detection. The fact that laughter is contagious raises the intriguing possibility that humans have an auditory laugh detector—a neural circuit in the brain that responds exclusively to laughter. Once triggered , the laugh detector activates a laugh generator, a neural circuit that causes us in turn to produce laughter. Furthermore, laughter is not randomly speech. There is evidence of " the punctuation effect" , the tendency to laugh almost exclusively at phrase breaks in speech. The pattern requires that speech has priority over laughter.
Pain reduction is one of laughter’s promising applications. Rosemary Cogan, Ph. D. , a professor of psychology at Texas Tech University, found that subjects who laughed at a funny video or underwent a relaxation procedure tolerated more discomfort than other subjects. Humor may help soften intense pain and it may also help us cope with stress. In a study by Michelle Newman, Ph. D. , an assistant professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University, subjects viewed a film a-bout three grisly accidents and had to narrate it either in a humorous or serious style. Those who used the humorous tone had the lowest negative effect and tension. However, a problem with these studies is that none of them separate the effects of laughter from those of humor. None allow for the possibility that presumed effects of laughter or humor may come from the playful setting associated with these behaviors. And none evaluate the uniqueness of laughter by contrasting it with other vocalizations such as shouting.
Rigorous proof that we can reduce stress and pain through laughter remains an unrealized but reasonable prospect. While we wait for definitive evidence, it can’t hurt—and it’s certainly enjoyable—to laugh.
Questions 66 to 70
Answer the following questions with the information given in the passage. [br] What does the author believe is the nature of laughter?
选项
答案
Laughter is primarily a social vocalization that binds people together.
解析
(第二段最后一句作者指出,经过十年关于“笑”的研究,其得出结论“laughter is primari—ly a social vocalization that binds people together”。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3092114.html
相关试题推荐
TheHouseofCommonsconsistsof______MembersofParliament.A、551B、651C、751D、
TheHouseofCommonsconsistsof______MembersofParliament.A、551B、651C、751D、
Laughterisnotthesameashumor.Laughteristhephysiologicalresponsetohum
Laughterisnotthesameashumor.Laughteristhephysiologicalresponsetohum
Laughterisnotthesameashumor.Laughteristhephysiologicalresponsetohum
Laughterisnotthesameashumor.Laughteristhephysiologicalresponsetohum
TheHistoryofGlobalizationGlobalizationiscommonlyb
TheHistoryofGlobalizationGlobalizationiscommonlyb
TheHistoryofGlobalizationGlobalizationiscommonlyb
TheHistoryofGlobalizationGlobalizationiscommonlyb
随机试题
[originaltext]W:Watchesandclocksseemasmuchapartofourlifeasbreathin
Marswithitsorange-redcolourhasfascinatedpeoplesinceancienttimes.I
Whatwilltheattendantaskyoutoshowherwhenyoucheckin?Your______ti
Pleasewriteyournameinthe______spaceatthetopofthepage.A、emptyB、vaca
下列对违约的救济形式中可以并存的是( )。A.违约金与定金责任 B.损害赔偿
女性,30岁,因月经量多1年,出现贫血表现,拟诊断为缺铁性贫血,可作为缺铁依据的
A.由个人完成发明创造的时代,已经同爱迪生一去不复返了 B.1969年至198
下列商业银行贷款中,只收取手续费不承担贷款风险的是()。A.科技开发贷款 B
主动红外入侵探测器体积小,重量轻,应用广泛,属于()。A.点型入侵探测器
(2014年真题)大跨度悬索桥的刚架式桥塔通常采用()。A.T形截面 B.箱形
最新回复
(
0
)