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Study Of Why Men Laugh At Explosions

We do. I don't know why. The idea is to study this.
  (+3, -4)
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Go to Youtube. Watch an explosion. If it's impressive enough you will laugh, possibly saying "Whoa!" or something else equally stupid.

The idea is to find out why. Here's the categories to be studied:

1- I.Q. of participants. 2- Social status (which is not related to IQ. Prince Charles for instance.) 3- Cultural background, region etc. 4- Educational level. Elementary school only (like me) high school, some college, BA, PHD etc.

In the study people could be asked why they laughed but the answer will be "I don't know." or equally baffling "Well, it was a really big explosion."

Please send the results of this study along with my honorary PHD to this website.

doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021

Some examples. https://www.youtube...watch?v=JwppGt5DtlU
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

Go to 1:!5 https://www.youtube...watch?v=xAWY5ryjd0w
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

Suggested study Study_20of_20Giant_20Squid_20by_20cloning
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

Suggested study Magnetosensitivity_20in_20humans
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

What Hip is referring to. https://www.youtube...watch?v=Sqz5dbs5zmo
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

Chimps laughing https://www.youtube...watch?v=hhlHx5ivGGk
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

Other primate reactions https://www.youtube...watch?v=IrK_DJ33pP8
[doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021]

suggested research material https://www.youtube...watch?v=5NfPIs9Zlc8
Fatboy Slim does a controlled trial [Loris, Feb 20 2021]

Scientific American: What's so Funny? https://www.scienti...ce-of-why-we-laugh/
Some popular science discussion on studies undertaken into what makes us laugh. [zen_tom, Feb 20 2021]

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       No, a study is a thing.   

       That's like saying "Stupid already done roof conveyor belt " Oh, can't suggest that, you're saying "Let's build a stupid already been done roof conveyor belt."   

       See some other examples of suggested studies.   

       But thank you for your post, reminds me this should say "Study of Why SOME Men Laugh At Explosions".
doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021
  

       Isn't laughter just an extension of surprise? I mean, a joke is just a narrative with a surprising shift at the end. Explosions, even when expected, are always somewhat surprising, so..
bs0u0155, Feb 19 2021
  

       Your proposed study doesn't explain how it would explain why.   

       But really everyone knows why. It's because of how big the explosion is.
pocmloc, Feb 19 2021
  

       Please include in your study why people in films, when walking away from something which explodes, don’t turn around but instead just continue walking and looking cool.
hippo, Feb 19 2021
  

       Bs0 I think there's maybe a release of tension thing involved. Like if somebody jumps out at you at a haunted house you laugh after. Not sure why.   

       Poc, good point. Yes, the bigger the explosion the "funnier" it is. As far as this being a way to learn why, this would be gathering data to start the thing off seeing what the variables might be. For starters, are there any variable? Does everybody laugh at explosions?   

       Hip. (Link)
doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021
  

       [Dr R. Emulac III] Yes, exactly!
hippo, Feb 19 2021
  

       //Bs0 I think there's maybe a release of tension thing involved.//   

       And realizing you're, surprisingly, still alive? I get the same basic feeling from a ~2s 20-100mph on my bike for the first couple of times at the start of the season. Pin the throttle, controlled terror, kick up a couple of gears laugh manically while coasting back to legal speeds.
bs0u0155, Feb 19 2021
  

       Bs0,OK, you just gave me an idea for an additional study.   

       Chimps laugh I think. When you show them a magic trick they get an expression and emote in a way that looks like laughter or surprise.   

       I don't think chimps would react to a loud noise with delight unless possibly they knew it was coming and had control over it.   

       So here's what I'm asking for in my million dollar research study grant: Testing lab where chimps are shown that pushing a button may or may not trigger an explosion at a safe distance. Then they're given a row of say ten buttons.   

       They'll push those buttons in anticipation of a possible explosion, we know that. I don't know why we know, but we do. When they're surprised by the explosion button, do they do that chimp laugh thing? (link)
doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021
  

       I think the men would also enjoy the button pushing thing.
pocmloc, Feb 19 2021
  

       Hmmm. That's an idea right there.   

       A box with like 20 buttons and one of them pops a small explosive cap?   

       OK, I'll split that one with you.
doctorremulac3, Feb 19 2021
  

       You could definitely get grant out of the (1960's) department of defense for demonstrating that chimps like explosions. That's the first step toward some kind of war- hungry soldier-monkey. I genuinely wonder if they do, because dogs definitely don't. So is it a primate thing? I can't imagine marmosets having a good time at a firework display.
bs0u0155, Feb 19 2021
  

       Correct that. I had a border collie that, if in control, would definitely have enjoyed blowing things up.
bs0u0155, Feb 19 2021
  

       I'm pretty sure "We should research" is an official MFD category.   

       And the answer to this particular question is probably already covered by the general theory of laughter put forward by Desmond Morris in 1968.
pertinax, Feb 20 2021
  

       I’ll look him up.
doctorremulac3, Feb 20 2021
  

       It's part of "The Naked Ape".
pertinax, Feb 20 2021
  

       You won't laugh if you experience an explosion in your vicinity. Try being on the same street as a car bomb. There's a universe of difference between real explosions and Hollywood depictions.
xenzag, Feb 20 2021
  

       Quite - I think it's fairly well understood that laughter is normally due to a sudden and unexpected release of built-up tension (looking up my link, this would appear to have been a Freudian idea). You experience a great deal of tension seeing something that took a person a great deal of time and effort to assemble get destroyed in moments. Just witnessing that level of destructive power can be a stressor. When your mind realises it was a controlled event that hasn't unleashed deadly forces on you, or anything of yours, i.e. that you're safe, the tension is quickly released and laughter immediately follows. As [xenzag] rightly points out, if you're not freed from the idea that the same thing could happen to anything in your immediate location, including yourself, then the tension only builds, and is unlikely to be unexpectedly released. Otherwise, we'd have to solve the problem of soldiers falling about laughing in the middle of battle, which as far as I'm aware hasn't been a huge problem since the invention and military application of gunpowder.
zen_tom, Feb 20 2021
  

       //the problem of soldiers falling about laughing in the middle of battle//

Step forward, Ernest Scribbler.

//There's a universe of difference between real explosions and Hollywood depictions.//

Too effin' true!
DrBob, Feb 20 2021
  

       This obviously isn't about explosions that kill people, it's about controlled explosions clearly shown in the video examples.
doctorremulac3, Feb 20 2021
  

       I wonder if laughing, from an evolutionary standpoint as something beneficial, serves as sort of an “all clear” signal call once a danger has passed.
doctorremulac3, Feb 20 2021
  

       //this would appear to have been a Freudian idea//   

       There's a process in mythogenesis whereby a better- known figure gradually accumulates the achievements of less famous people around them, who are forgotten. One example of this was when the deeds of King Charles Martel came to be ascribed instead to his better- known grandson, Charlemagne.   

       If you read the linked article a little more carefully, you see that it was actually an eighteenth- century idea, but the author details Freud's version of it (and not the earlier version) for no better reason than that Freud has a strong brand. This is not the first time that Freud has been the beneficiary of this hero- building process (see "the vanity of small differences").   

       I put forward Morris' version instead of Freud's because Morris' version is scientific.
pertinax, Feb 21 2021
  

       Why do men dislike research about men?
pashute, Feb 21 2021
  

       It's a man thing... you probably wouldn't understand.   

       1st rule of man club...
pocmloc, Feb 21 2021
  

       Why does everyone generalise so much?
DrBob, Feb 21 2021
  

       I caught that Doc, very good. Subtle humor like old Max would have engaged in.
doctorremulac3, Feb 21 2021
  

       How typical of Drs to keep all the in jokes to themselves! I bet people like you always do that kind of thing.
pocmloc, Feb 21 2021
  

       It's a fake doctor thing. (at least with me anyway)
doctorremulac3, Feb 21 2021
  

       I'm not an actor, but I play one on tv.   

       —DrBob :)
po, Feb 22 2021
  

       ;)
DrBob, Feb 22 2021
  

       Would they laugh at themselves if they hit the raspberry button in the box of twenty? I'm not sure we are at that psychological level yet.
wjt, Feb 24 2021
  

       Our daughter used to laugh at explosions when she was small.
nineteenthly, Feb 24 2021
  

       Did you take away her sense of humor?
Voice, Feb 24 2021
  

       Yes, I keep it in a plastic bag on top of the wardrobe and take it out every Ascension Sunday to gloat over.
nineteenthly, Feb 24 2021
  


 

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