What Types of Laughter are there?

A person might ask: what kinds of laughter are there?  Laughter is not all the same.  As with snowflakes, there is not one laugh that is exactly the same.  We've went over the different types of humor (see the post Am I Funny?  and the Types of Humor), but now it's time to differentiate the types of laughter.

A multitude of different things can alter a person's laughter, including what kind of humor the person has, the cause of laughter (see Why do people laugh?), and the person itself.  These different combinations make way for a large variety of different laughters.

Laughter can be classified according to intensity, covertness, the respiratory pattern involved, the sequence of notes or pitches it produces, or according to the emotion it is expressed with.

Some people snort when they laugh, others shake silently with no sound coming out.  Some people's laugh sounds like a beautiful melody, while other's laugh sounds like a dying animal.  A lot of the time, however, a person can have many different types of laughter that can arise on different occasions.

For instance, someone might laugh quietly or politely, a chuckle, when they're with people older than them.  However, when with their friends, that same person might laugh crazily and hysterically.  In class, a group of students might giggle, trying to laugh quietly or stifle their laughter as not to get in trouble with the teachers.

In a previous article of mine (Why do people laugh?), I categorized laughter in three ways: amused laughter, fake laughter, and ticklish laughter.  This article will dive deeper into things, looking at certain aspects of laughter and the different types.  Most of the types of laughter will be caused by amused laughter.

Different types of laughter include, but are not limited to, the following: chuckling, giggling, outburst, sputtering, .  As you may recall, different emotions can elicit different types of laughter as well (see Why do people laugh?).  Embarrassment, nervousness, happiness, amusement, confusion, relief, and pain can all result in laughter.

The structure of laughter depends on the person, or the situation.  It is possible for a person to have different structures of laughter for different occasions.  Typically, a laugh has the structure of one of the following: "ha-ha-ha", "ho-ho-ho", or "he-he-he".  A person is physically unable to have a laughing structure of varying combinations, such as "ha-ho-he-ha".  It is, however, possible to have a variation on the first or last note in a sequence.  Therefore, "ha-ha-ho" and "he-he-ha" are possible.  Despite individual variants, a laugh is recognizable because all laughs have a basic structure.  Limitations of our vocal cords don't allow a combination of normal note durations and unusually long or short note intervals.

So, despite there being a large variety of different types of laughter with different laughing structures, all laughter has a basic structure and is recognizable from humans around the world.  Laughter is one of the only things that isn't altered by people's opinions.

Imagine visiting a foreign country and the people there spoke a language you couldn't understand.  They still smile just like you do and joke just like you do.  Guess what else?  They laugh: just like you do.

That's one of the beauties of laughter: it isn't altered by people's opinions.

What kind of humor do I have? quiz

A person might ask: what kind of humor do I have?  As you may recall from one of my previous posts (Am I Funny? and the Types of Humor), there are seven categories of humor: Self-humor, Stupid-humor, Dirty-humor, Sarcastic-humor, Dark-humor, Dry-humor, and Witty-humor.  You may have asked yourself: what kind of humor do I have?  You may not be able to tell yourself if you are funny not, at least not truthfully.  So, how are you supposed to determine what kind of humor you have if you aren't even sure you're funny at all?

Take this quiz to determine your sense or senses of humor.  (note - some people may have more than one kind of sense of humor)

Disclaimer: this quiz may not be 100% accurate.

Directions: answer each question with a yes or a no.  If the appropriate answer is closer to a maybe, simply choose one of the other, or skip the question.  Or, if the question gives you two choices, pick one.  Since a person might have more than one kind of sense of humor, feel free to continue the quiz by going to the next question even if you've already been assigned a sense of humor.  Most importantly, be honest!


1.     Do you laugh a lot?
If yes, go to question 2.  If no, maybe you don't have a sense of humor.  Continue to question 2 anyways.

2.     If you were to choose what you do more often, would it be grin or smirk?
If grin, go to question 3.  If smirk, go to question 4.

3.     Is your laugh considered loud and annoying or quiet and shy?
If loud and annoying, go to question 5.  If quiet and shy, go to question 4.

4.     Do you consider yourself the funniest out of all of your friends?
If yes, then you have Self-humor.  Sit back and enjoy your own jokes.  Maybe even share them with someone.  If no, maybe you don't have a sense of humor.  Continue to question 6 anyways.

5.     Do you laugh more than your friends?
If more, then you have Stupid-humor.  You laugh a lot and at everything.  Sometimes the cause of your hysterics might be stupid, and usually is, but hopefully you've got another Stupid-humored person by your side laughing with you.  If less, maybe you don't have a sense of humor.  Continue to question 6 anyways.

6.     Do you often get quiet when someone walks by while you're laughing with your friends?
If yes, then you have Dirty-humor.  You laugh at all the wrong things and have an extremely dirty mind.  Chances are you're a teenager or a grown-up male.  You're perverted, but in a 'that's what she said' kind of way.  If no, continue to question 7.

7.     Do people consider you more brooding or happy?
If brooding, continue to question 8.  If happy, continue to question 10.

8.     Do you hardly smile because you have a dark personality or because you're constantly thinking?
If dark mind, then you have Dark-humor.  Congrats.  You're that person that makes Dark-humored jokes with maybe a bit of Dry-humored facial expression and a Dirty-humored mind.  You're divergent!  If constantly thinking, continue to question 9.

9.     Do you usually tell your jokes with a black facial expression?
If yes, then you have Dry-humor.  People can't always read your facial expression or body language and it's often hard for people to tell what you are thinking.  Still, you have a sense of humor.  If no, continue to question 10.

10.     Are you the person that talks back to your teacher with clever remarks?
If yes, continue to question 11.  If no, continue to question 12.

11.   Are your comebacks usually epic or lame?
If epic, then you have Witty-humor.  People in this category are probably the cleverest and most intelligent.  Or just strive for attention from their peers and do so by developing their sense of humor.  Maybe it comes naturally to you, or maybe you've trained your mind to pick up on slight details in a conversation and pick out the amusing parts in it.  If lame, maybe you don't have a sense of humor.  Continue to question 12 anyways.

12.     Are you the type of person that takes things literally and makes jokes that start with, "well, technically..."?
If yes, then you have Sarcastic-humor.  You often talk back to teachers or adults and are constantly searching your brain for a clever remark.  You might even have some Witty-humor mixed in with your sarcasm.  If no, then maybe you don't have a sense of humor.


If you got more than three 'maybe you don't have a sense of humor's, you probably don't have a sense of humor... or, you can tell yourself, it's buried deep down.

What is laughter?

A person might ask: what is laughter?  How does it work?  My last post, Why do people laugh?, describes the different types of laughter and what triggers them.  There still might be lingering questions about the anatomy of laughter, curiosity that I strive to quench.  Why is it so easy to detect when laughter is feigned?  And, why does it seem impossible to stifle laughter when you find something amusing?

Firstly, laughter is the physiological response to humor.  It's the body's way of coping with an intense flood of emotions.  Sometimes there isn't even a real explanation.  Nevertheless, some aspects of it can be explained scientifically.

The lungs are the larynx are the mechanisms used when coughing or speaking.  They also create the sound of our laugh.  Normally, air passes freely through our open vocal cords in the larynx.  When they close, air cannot pass through them and when they're partially open, some sort of sound is generated.  Laughter is the result when we exhale through closed or partially open vocal cords.  The respiratory muscles periodically activate to produce the characteristic sound of laughter.

Why is it so difficult to fake laughter?  It seems as if feigned laughter stands out clearly and makes an awkward situation even more awkward.  This is because, besides the fact that laughing can sometimes be completely involuntary, it involves the movement of a complex series of muscles to produce a proper, genuine laugh.  A simulated one, however, doesn't quite sound the same, in part because the same muscles are not being triggered.  It requires an active effort to feign laughter.  Furthermore, the risorius muscle and the zygomaticus muscle are both used in smiling and, therefore, laughing.  Since the risorius muscle affects a smaller portion of the face than the zygomaticus muscle, it is easier to control and is therefore commonly used to feign amusement, hence why fake laughter is easy to detect.

Similarly, it is so hard to suppress laughter for this reason; laughter is often involuntary and involves the moving of a complex series of muscles.  Laughter may seem uncontrollable at times.  Particularly laughter caused from amusement.

The study of laughter and its effects on the human body, both psychologically and physiologically, is called gelotology.  Sometimes it's useful, and sometimes it's just fun.  Or perhaps, ironically, funny.

Why do people laugh?

A person might ask: what causes laughter?  Why do people laugh?  Why does your body react the way it does when you're being tickled, and how come you can't tickle yourself?  What emotions trigger our bodies to dive into a condition of uncontrollable hysterics?  There are seven types of humor, but there are even more types of laughter.  Whether you're confused, nervous, or happy, laughing can always seem like a solution.

On the subject of the cause of laughter, the answer isn't a simple one.  It depends.  Laughter is categorized in three ways.  The first instance: a person telling a joke, cracking a smile that soon turns into an insane path of laughter.  The second instance: a person that feigns a soft chuckle, either from embarrassment or pretending to be amused at a joke that they don't find all that funny.  The third instance: someone being tickled, choking on gasps of laughter.  So, ultimately, there is laughter caused from amusement, fake laughter, and laughter caused from someone being tickled.  Multiple different types of laughter can fall into each group.

What is the difference between these three different categories of laughter?  Aren't they all the same thing?

First, I'll delve into the category that seems to get the least amount of attention, and for good reason.  Feigned laughter.  It can almost always be spotted when it occurs, despite how convincing of an actor the sound is coming from.  People may imitate laughter for a variety of different reasons, including being distracted from the topic of conversation (or just not in the mood) but not wanting to stand out by being the only one not laughing at a joke, embarrassment, or from being nervous.

Oppositely, laughter caused from happiness or amusement is completely genuine and extremely difficult to fake.  This particular type of laughter, sometimes known as "happy laughter" or "hysterical laughter", can be triggered from intense emotions ranging from amusement to satisfaction to confusion to relief.  Regardless of the reason, it is typically a pleasant sound and elicits smiles or similar laughter from people around the room.

Laughter from being tickled might be a completely different experience than amused laughter to some people.  It might bring a smile to your face, but not necessarily a smile of happiness.  Many people hate being tickled, and for good reason.  The act of tickling triggers a sensation that activates part of the brain that copes with pain.  Have you ever wondered why we have certain "ticklish" spots on our bodies?  If you notice, most people are ticklish in their weakest spots, such as their feet, neck, or stomach.  This results in our "fight or flight" mechanism being triggered, leading to what we know as ticklish laughter.  Unlike genuinely funny laughter, tickling causes the hypothalamus - which controls instinctive reactions (think fight or flight) - to activate.  The hypothalamus also controls body temperature, hunger, and tiredness.  Some people start to laugh at merely the mention of being tickled.  In someone being tickled, their unmyelinated nerve fibers that cause pain are being stimulated.  This is the reason why people are known to lash out at their attacker when being tickled.  This also explains why you can't tickle yourself; your brain is aware that there is no need to produce a response to the action because it knows you don't need protection and aren't in any danger.  Tickling may be playful to some people, but to others is can just be painful.

So, those are the three categories and a basic summary of what they entail.  The causes and triggers of laughter have been listed and details about each category of laughter have been explained.  Next time you want to get even with an enemy, who would have thought tickling would be an option?

Am I funny? and the Types of Humor

A person might ask: Am I funny?

When it comes to questions about yourself, it's hard to be objective.  Even more complicated still, there are different definitions of comedy.  On a broad scale, there are seven main categories of humor.

Self-humor, Stupid-humor, Dirty-humor, Sarcastic-humor, Dark-humor, Dry-humor, and Witty-humor.

Self-humor is probably the hardest type of humor to attain.  Most people either have it or they don't.  Self-humor is the ability to make yourself laugh.  I often find that there are two types of people: people that need constant entertainment and people that can entertain themselves.  The latter of the two would be an instance of Self-humor.  These types of people can be locked in an empty room with only their minds as entertainment, yet can still make themselves smile simply with their imagination.  Any good author or writer should at least have a somewhat good sense of Self-humor.  Sometimes Self-humor includes laughing at yourself or at your insecurities.

Stupid-humor, sometimes known as American-humor, is the attitude of finding stupid things funny or amusing.  Everyone has their moments of Stupid-humor, some more so than others.  At times when you're laughing and you can't seem to stop, Stupid-humor usually falls upon you, despite what type of humor started the laughing spree.  When you're in a giggling mood, everything seems funny to you, even if it would otherwise seem stupid.  This is a case of Stupid-humor.

Dirty-humor.  Think of an instance when you found something funny that you probably shouldn't have.  This is known as Dirty-humor, and it has probably happened to almost everyone at one time or another.  You all know what I'm talking about.  This type of humor often comes to people naturally, especially teenagers with dirty minds.  Sometimes Dirty-humor is mistaken for Stupid-humor because prude people are often too embarrassed to laugh at it and the joke falls flat.

Sarcastic-humor may seem common, but most people who think they have it actually don't.  Therefore, true Sarcastic-humor, or at least good Sarcastic-humor, is relatively rare.  A person with Sarcastic-humor turns everything into a joke.  Sarcastic-humor is the use of irony to mock or convey contempt.  Sarcasm if oftentimes used by people who are irritated or annoyed.  Teenagers are big sarcasm users and use it on their parents frequently.  Oftentimes, Sarcastic-humored people use Dry-humor to convey or project their jokes.
                                                                                                                                
Dark-humor.  This type of humor is often viewed as morbid or cruel, and can sometimes be a form of teasing or ridiculing.  To perform this type of humor, people pick on others and laugh at their insecurities or differences.  Dark-humored people often find humor at someone else's expense.  Dark-humor can also be in the form of a sneering remark that some people associate with sarcasm, so it can be wrongly mistaken for Sarcastic-humor.

Dry humor, or Deadpan-humor, is the ability to tell a joke in a way that makes it seem as if you are funny by coincidence.  It is a very subtle way of trying to be funny.  This type of humor is meant to seem unintentional.  It is spoken casually in a calm, monotone voice accompanied with a passive demeanor and an apathetic facial expression.  Dry-humored people can deliver a hysterically funny line without cracking a smile.

Witty-humor.  A person with Witty-humor is clever and shows intelligence.  People with this type of humor are quick and inventive.  Has there ever been someone you've met that always seems to have a comeback?  Usually those people are characterized as having Witty-humor.  They can find the subtle humor in a situation that can make even the most intelligent people crack a smile because they hadn't thought of it first.  Witty-humored people are clever enough to come across as funny without seeming like a know-it-all.

You can determine if you have Self-humor, or the ability to make yourself laugh.  However, only other people can determine if you have a different type of humor.  And people's opinions of your humor might contradict each other.  Still, to be funny, you shouldn't constantly worry about what other's might think.  Follow the Rules of Laughter and you might just have a shot at making someone smile.

Laughter 101

Comedy is not a science; it's an art.  And, as with any other skill, it can be practiced and perfected.  Humor is also subjective.  A person's sense of humor can change over time.  For example, when I first heard What Does The Fox Say? I stared at my computer screen with the video on repeat, unable to stop laughing.  Now whenever I hear it it's all I can do not to roll my eyes.  To keep the laughter fresh, you need to follow the Rules of Humor.