Why do people laugh when they find something humorous?

Answer 1

Laughing Is Contagious

The cynical answer is that sitcoms are so witless and unfunny that we need to be told where the jokes are. But this misses the point. Why does hearing other people laugh make us more likely to laugh ourselves?

Everyone's experienced this on a small scale. Seeing someone in hysterics -- even if you don't know who the person is or why she's laughing -- can set you laughing too. Why?

The answer lies in the evolutionary function of laughter. Laughter is social; it's not a solo activity, says Provine. "We laugh 30 times as much when we're with other people than we do when we're alone," says Provine.

You might assume that the 'purpose' of a laugh is to express yourself -- to let people know that you think something is funny. But according to a 2005 article published in the Quarterly Review of Biology, the primary function of laughter may not be self-expression. Laughter, a physiological response to humor, can be broken down into two parts.

The first is a set of gestures, and the second is the production of sound. The brain forces to conduct both responses simultaneously. From a physiological standpoint, a "sensor" in the brain responds to laughter by triggering other neural circuits in the brain, which, in turn, generate more laughter.

Oddly enough, laughter is an orderly response, and almost occurs "spontaneously" during pauses at the end of phrases, earning it the name the punctuation effect. Human beings are the only species capable of laughter, and the average adult does so approximately 17 times per day.

Laughter reduces our stress levels by reducing the level of stress hormones, and also helps us cope with serious illnesses.
Physiologically, laughter promotes healing, by lowering the blood pressure, and by increasing the vascular blood flow and the oxygenation of the blood.

In some cases, laughter can in fact become literally contagious.
So sitcoms -- or anything else -- seem funnier to us when we hear other people laughing at them. We've evolved to be that way.

Answer 2

Psychological studies (especially in the evolutionary psychology field) have now done research on the evolution of laughter. How originally the noises we make (and animals make) as a way of playing together, to create social relationships. If you listen to your own laughter, or the laughter of your friends then you'll notice that they do sound very animalistic. Laughter doesn't really sound like anything linguistically (unless you say "That's so funny" instead of laughing). I've listed the research done on why we laugh in the source section and hopefully that will answer your question in a little more detail.

Answer 3

Often times, and this is just my opinion now, they laugh because they find something humorous.

Answer 4

when something is funny than some people laugh like this hahahahahahaha............. :)

Answer 5

its a natural reaction.