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Asked by 10stefe1 to Clare, Mariana, Pedro, Robert, Susanne on 16 Nov 2012.
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Susanne Muekusch answered on 16 Nov 2012:
From a biologists and evolutionary point of perspective I would say: because we are very social animals.
All the things you mentioned do not make sense when you live a solitary life in the woods somewhere. Humans have evolved very complex social behaviours and these feelings are important to interact with each other. Apparantly, being part of a social group was an advantage over living solitary.
Why humans laugh is still puzzling scientists. No one can be really sure why, but some think it is important for us to relax akward situations. To show another human, that you are harmless and won’t attack. It also might help for bonding in social groups- who laughs together, belongs together!
You see, it is all about the social animal human.
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Robert Insall answered on 16 Nov 2012:
One word – “evolution”.
People who laugh and love probably have more babies.
Crying helps babies make sure they get looked after, so they survive better.
Becoming jealous? Too complicated for me. Probably helps somewhere…
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Clare Taylor answered on 17 Nov 2012:
You know animals are just the same too! It’s all about competition and ensuring that the strongest survive! Affection ensures that you keep your mate, and jealousy evokes feelings that someone else should keep their hands off your mate! In animals, this would result in a fight where the strongest would win. Crying gets attention and ensure that your mate is aware of you. Laughing, well even animals appear to laugh, and maybe that’s a form of flattery – laughing at your mate’s jokes might help to keep them on side and ensure that they stay with you. So, all together from an animal point of view, all of these things enure that you get attention and have the best mate to have offspring with and ensure survival of your species.
Humans are much more complex and our emotional responses are not quite as simple as animals, but at the end of the day, I reckon it all happens for pretty similar reasons!
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Mariana Campos answered on 18 Nov 2012:
Hello stefe,
Great question. I agree that it has all to do with evolution and with the fact that we are a social animal. And talking about the laughing, some scientists say that in terms of evolution, the humans learn how to laugh before we knew how to speak. So it might have started as a form of language.
And did you know that even if someone is deaf and blind this person will still laugh? It means that laughing is something very basic, encoded in our brain and not something we learn how to do.
And I had never thought about before but did you know
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