7 - Closing remarks

Summary

In this chapter I wish to summarize major themes, discuss some implications, and make bridges to related research agendas. As shown in the first chapter, laughter has long held fascination for those contemplating its nature, causes, functions, and meanings. Biological and ethological researchers demonstrate its close association with related primate behaviors and offer compelling theories of its origins in human communication and its evolutionary functions. The universality of laughter suggests a trans-situational, trans-cultural set of forms and meanings. It is universal that people produce laughter from the same finite set of phonemes and combinations thereof. It is universal that laughter connects to a finite set of facial expressions, breathing rhythms, and body movements. Laughter seems universally associated with feeling enjoyment, perceiving something as funny, or triumphing at other's misfortunes. However, this is not to say that all laughs appear the same, mean the same, or do the same work. Within these general parameters exists considerable latitude for variation in sound, sight, and feeling. As with all forms of human communicative behavior, laughter does far more than stand simply as outer display in any kind of pure mood–sign relation. It may be feigned; it may be done in order to experience certain feelings as well as occurring as a result of those feelings. Notions like “nervous” or “polite” laughter point to its doing other interactional work than simply expressing emotion.