Why do we laugh?
Laughter has evolved primarily as a social cue, a way to communicate social bonding and relieve social anxiety. Scientists studying laughter – called gelotologists – found that people laugh at almost anything. Laughter is used as a ‘punctuation mark’ to communicate good-natured friendship. This may have evolved in our primate ancestors to signal a lack of aggression. You are 30 times as likely to laugh in a group than by yourself, and the funniest situations involve incongruity or surprise.