David Lowe . Coach https://davidlowe.coach Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:20:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://davidlowe.coach/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cropped-david-lowe_sketch_512-copy-32x32.png David Lowe . Coach https://davidlowe.coach 32 32 Kuhn’s 15 stages of laughter https://davidlowe.coach/2024/07/31/kuhns-15-stages-of-laughter/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 14:18:38 +0000 https://davidlowe.coach/?p=4164

I stumbled across Kuhn’s 15 stages of laughter in a paper by Ronald A. Berk (Berk, R. A. (2001). The active ingredients in humor: Psychophysiological benefits and risks for older adults. Educational Gerontology, 27:3-4, 323-339). Annoyingly, the source of the original article eludes me as it appears to be in a short-lived publication called the Journal of Nursing Jocularity.

Here are the 15 stages:

  1. Smirk: Slight, often fleeting upturning of the corners of the mouth, completely voluntary and controllable.
  2. Smile: Silent, voluntary and controllable, more perceptible than a smirk; begins to release endorphins.
  3. Grin: Silent, controllable, but uses more facial muscles (e.g., eyes begin to narrow).
  4. Snicker: First emergence of sound with facial muscles, but still controllable (if you hold in a snicker, it builds up gas).
  5. Giggle: Has a 50% chance of reversal to avoid a full laugh; sound of giggling is amusing; efforts to suppress it tend to increase its strength.
  6. Chuckle: Involves chest muscles with deeper pitch.
  7. Chortle: Originates even deeper in the chest and involves muscles of torso; usually provokes laughter in others.
  8. Laugh: Involves facial and thoracic muscles as well as abdomen and extremities; sound of barking or snorting.
  9. Cackle: First involuntary stage; pitch is higher and body begins to rock, spine extends and flexes, with an upturning of head.
  10. Guffaw: Full body response; feet stomp, arms wave, thighs slapped, torso rocks, sound is deep and loud; may result in free flowing of tears, increased heart rate, and breathlessness; strongest solitary laughter experience.
  11. Howl: Volume and pitch rise higher and higher and body becomes more animated.
  12. Shriek: Greater intensity than howl; sense of helplessness and vulnerability.
  13. Roar: Lose individuality; i.e., the audience roars!
  14. Convulse: Body is completely out of control in a “fit” of laughter resembling a seizure; extremities flail aimlessly, balance is lost, gasp for breath, collapse or fall off chair.
  15. Die Laughing: Instant of total helplessness; a brief, physically intense, transcendent experience; having died, we are thereafter reborn in a refreshing moment of breathlessness and exhaustion with colours more vivid and everything sparkling; everything is renewed.
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Kynicism https://davidlowe.coach/2021/09/29/kynicism/ Wed, 29 Sep 2021 14:14:47 +0000 https://davidlowe.coach/?p=4158

I read about the concept of Kynicism today (originating from Peter Sloterdijk).

Kynical laughter is loud, unreserved and primitive, originating from the stomach. It’s a belly laugh.

It is the kind of laughter that reduces the utterings of the pompous, contemptuous, hierarchical and cynical to ridicule; nobody can stay lofty when they are facing such a challenge.

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