Nervous laughter

Nervous laughter is laughter evoked from an audience's expression of embarrassment, alarm, or confusion, rather than amusement. Nervous laughter is usually less robust in expression than "a good belly laugh", and may be combined with confused glances or awkward silence on the part of others in the audience. Nervous laughter is considered analogous to a courtesy laugh, which may be rendered by more of a conscious effort in an attempt to move a situation along more quickly, especially when the comedian is pausing for laughter.

Unhealthy or "nervous" laughter comes from the throat. This nervous laughter is not true laughter, but an expression of tension and anxiety. Instead of relaxing a person, nervous laughter tightens them up even further.

People laugh when they need to project dignity and control during times of stress and anxiety. In these situations we usually laugh in a subconscious attempt to reduce stress and calm down. However, it often works otherwise. Nervous laughter is often considered fake laughter and even heightens the awkwardness of the situation.^[1]

People may laugh nervously when exposed to stress due to witnessing others' pain. For instance, in Stanley Milgram's obedience experiment, subjects ("teachers") were told to shock "learners" every time the learners answered a question incorrectly. Although the "learners" were not actually shocked, the subjects believed they were. As they were going through the study, many of the "subjects showed signs of extreme tension and conflict".^[2] Milgram observed some subjects laughing nervously when they heard the "learners'" false screams of pain. In A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness, neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran suggests that laughter is used as a defense mechanism used to guard against overwhelming anxiety. Laughter often diminishes the suffering associated with a traumatic event.^[3]

References

1. ^ Balandis, M. (2010). "Psychology studies". Nervous Laughter. Lithuania. http://loreskinaite.blogspot.com/2010/04/types-of-laughter.html. 
2. ^ Hockenbury, Don (2011). Discovering Psychology. New York, NY: Worth Publishers. 
3. ^ Lickerman, Alex. "Why We Laugh". Happiness In This World. Psychology Today. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201101/why-we-laugh. Retrieved 14 July 2011.