this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Fun thing about that video: laughter is a social signal.

Most people when they watch or read funny things alone will not laugh nearly as much (if at all) as when they see the same thing in a social setting, even if they are just as amused by it.

Because laughter is a signal that we get the joke (In a social setting where the laughter reaction is appropriate).

That’s why there are more nuanced labels, like “this caused a sharp exhalation through my nose” or “I chuckled in public and people are looking at me”. And we mostly all recognize the significance of that, because it’s rare we bust a gut solo in inappropriate settings, too.

But you can’t say “that’s really amusing” or similar, even when it is, because that’s hurtful to people as it’s phrasing often used derisively. So we pretend to have extreme reactions for hyperbolic reasons, I guess, and this is what happens.

Humans are really fascinating context dependent entities.