There was a lawyer who once asked his witness, “Doc, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?” And pat came the answer, “All my autopsies are performed only on dead people.” Now some people would have found that funny and others boring. What is it that makes people crack up on a joke? Why are some jokes funny while others fall flat? Is it the skill of the person telling the joke or does it depend on the intelligence of the listener to decipher it? Whatever it may be, understanding why people laugh may not be a laughing matter at all.
People find great humor tough to pull off. It’s difficult because sense of humor varies from person to person. People’s sense of humor is affected by many factors including personality, gender and probably even their IQ. Research has shown that even people’s jobs influence their humor. For example, people who work as paramedics saw their humor move from ethnic and raunchy jokes to complete black humor as time went by. In fact, the more experienced the paramedic, the “darker” their humor was. Black humor diverts one’s attention from a scary or a difficult situation.
People use humor to relieve work place stress. It serves as a mental break from the rigors of the job. Remember all the jokes you cracked about your bosses? However, whether a joke can make someone go into splits depends on the sense of humor of that person as well. A joke one person may find funny may offend another.
All said and done, laughter is great medicine. It helps in boosting immunity. Laughter changes the chemicals in the brain and it can elevate moods. That is why people who laugh more are typically in a better frame of mind. In this frenetic paced life, people who don’t laugh, don’t last.