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Go to Youtube. Watch an explosion. If it's impressive
enough you will laugh, possibly saying "Whoa!" or
something else equally stupid.
The idea is to find out why. Here's the categories to be
studied:
1- I.Q. of participants.
2- Social status (which is not related to IQ. Prince Charles
for instance.)
3- Cultural background, region etc.
4- Educational level. Elementary school only (like me) high
school, some college, BA, PHD etc.
In the study people could be asked why they laughed but
the answer will be "I don't know." or equally baffling "Well,
it was a really big explosion."
Please send the results of this study along with my
honorary PHD to this website.
Some examples.
https://www.youtube...watch?v=JwppGt5DtlU [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
Go to 1:!5
https://www.youtube...watch?v=xAWY5ryjd0w [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
Suggested study
Study_20of_20Giant_20Squid_20by_20cloning [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
Suggested study
Magnetosensitivity_20in_20humans [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
What Hip is referring to.
https://www.youtube...watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
Chimps laughing
https://www.youtube...watch?v=hhlHx5ivGGk [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
Other primate reactions
https://www.youtube...watch?v=IrK_DJ33pP8 [doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]
suggested research material
https://www.youtube...watch?v=5NfPIs9Zlc8 Fatboy Slim does a controlled trial [Loris, Feb 20 2021]
Scientific American: What's so Funny?
https://www.scienti...ce-of-why-we-laugh/ Some popular science discussion on studies undertaken into what makes us laugh. [zen_tom, Feb 20 2021]
[link]
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(responding to somebody posting "you need to remove this, it's not a thing, since taken down) |
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That's like saying "Stupid already done roof
conveyor
belt
" Oh, can't suggest that, you're saying "Let's build a
stupid already been done roof conveyor belt." |
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See some other examples of suggested studies. |
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But thank you for your post, reminds me this
should say "Study of Why SOME Men Laugh At
Explosions". |
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Isn't laughter just an extension of surprise? I mean, a joke is
just a narrative with a surprising shift at the end.
Explosions, even when expected, are always somewhat
surprising, so.. |
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Your proposed study doesn't explain how it would explain why. |
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But really everyone knows why. It's because of how big the explosion is. |
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Please include in your study why people in films, when walking
away from something which explodes, dont turn around but instead
just continue walking and looking cool. |
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Bs0 I think there's maybe a release of tension thing
involved. Like if somebody jumps out at you at a
haunted house you laugh after. Not sure why. |
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Poc, good point. Yes, the bigger the explosion the
"funnier" it is. As far as this being a way to learn
why, this would be gathering data to start the
thing off seeing what the variables might be. For
starters, are there any variable? Does everybody
laugh at explosions? |
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[Dr R. Emulac III] Yes, exactly! |
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//Bs0 I think there's maybe a release of tension thing
involved.// |
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And realizing you're, surprisingly, still alive? I get the same
basic feeling from a ~2s 20-100mph on my bike for the first
couple of times at the start of the season. Pin the throttle,
controlled terror, kick up a couple of gears laugh manically
while coasting back to legal speeds. |
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Bs0,OK, you just gave me an idea for an additional
study. |
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Chimps laugh I think. When you show them a magic
trick they get an expression and emote in a way
that looks like laughter or surprise. |
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I don't think chimps would react to a loud noise
with delight unless possibly they knew it was
coming and had control over it. |
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So here's what I'm asking for in my million dollar
research study grant: Testing lab where chimps are
shown that pushing a button may or may not
trigger an explosion at a safe distance. Then
they're given a row of say ten buttons. |
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They'll push those buttons in anticipation of a
possible explosion, we know that. I don't know why
we know, but we do. When they're surprised by the
explosion button, do they do that chimp laugh
thing? (link) |
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I think the men would also enjoy the button pushing thing. |
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Hmmm. That's an idea right there. |
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A box with like 20 buttons and one of them pops a
small explosive cap? |
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OK, I'll split that one with you. |
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You could definitely get grant out of the (1960's)
department of defense for demonstrating that chimps like
explosions. That's the first step toward some kind of war-
hungry soldier-monkey. I genuinely wonder if they do,
because dogs definitely don't. So is it a primate thing? I can't
imagine marmosets having a good time at a firework display. |
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Correct that. I had a border collie that, if in control, would
definitely have enjoyed blowing things up. |
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I'm pretty sure "We should research" is an official MFD category. |
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And the answer to this particular question is probably already
covered by the general theory of laughter put forward by
Desmond Morris in 1968. |
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It's part of "The Naked Ape". |
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You won't laugh if you experience an explosion in
your vicinity. Try being on the same street as a car
bomb. There's a universe of difference between
real explosions and Hollywood depictions. |
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Quite - I think it's fairly well understood that laughter is
normally due to a sudden and
unexpected release of built-up tension (looking up my
link, this would appear to have been a Freudian idea).
You experience a great deal of
tension seeing
something that took a person a great deal of time and
effort to assemble get destroyed in
moments. Just witnessing that level of destructive power
can be a stressor. When your mind
realises it was a controlled event that hasn't unleashed
deadly forces on you, or anything of yours, i.e. that you're safe,
the tension is quickly released and laughter immediately
follows. As [xenzag] rightly points
out, if you're not freed from the idea that the same thing
could happen to anything in your
immediate location, including yourself, then the tension
only builds, and is unlikely to be
unexpectedly released. Otherwise, we'd have to solve the
problem of soldiers falling about
laughing in the middle of battle, which as far as I'm aware
hasn't been a huge problem since
the invention and military application of gunpowder. |
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//the problem of soldiers falling about laughing in the middle of battle//
Step forward, Ernest Scribbler.
//There's a universe of difference between real explosions and Hollywood depictions.//
Too effin' true! |
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This obviously isn't about explosions that kill people,
it's about controlled explosions clearly shown in the
video examples. |
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I wonder if laughing, from an evolutionary
standpoint as something beneficial, serves as sort
of an all clear signal call once a danger has
passed. |
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//this would appear to have been a Freudian idea// |
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There's a process in mythogenesis whereby a better- known
figure gradually accumulates the achievements of less famous
people around them, who are forgotten. One example of this
was when the deeds of King Charles Martel came to be ascribed
instead to his better- known grandson, Charlemagne. |
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If you read the linked article a little more carefully, you see that it
was actually an eighteenth- century idea, but the author details
Freud's version of it (and not the earlier version) for no better
reason than that Freud has a strong brand. This is not the first
time that Freud has been the beneficiary of this hero- building
process (see "the vanity of small differences"). |
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I put forward Morris' version instead of Freud's because Morris'
version is scientific. |
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Why do men dislike research about men? |
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It's a man thing... you probably wouldn't understand. |
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Why does everyone generalise so much? |
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I caught that Doc, very good. Subtle humor like old
Max would have engaged in. |
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How typical of Drs to keep all the in jokes to themselves! I bet people like you always do that kind of thing. |
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It's a fake doctor thing. (at least with me anyway) |
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I'm not an actor, but I play one on tv. |
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Would they laugh at themselves if they hit the raspberry button in the box of twenty? I'm not sure we are at that psychological level yet. |
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Our daughter used to laugh at explosions when she was
small. |
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Did you take away her sense of humor? |
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Yes, I keep it in a plastic bag on top of the wardrobe and
take it out every Ascension Sunday to gloat over. |
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