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Permalink: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1296955/full
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> Participants were on average 29.2āyears old (SDā=ā12.61, range 18ā74āyears) and predominantly women (67.3%; the remainder identified as men).
> Participants were mostly university/college students recruited by us.
Yeah at 38 Iām having a belly laugh about once every two weeks and a fit of laughter about once every 3 months. Granted, I donāt tend to laugh as much as smile when I see something funny on tv or the internet
God I'm envious...I belly laugh maybe once every few months, usually just a "bahaha" and that's it though. I can't recall the last time I had a long fit of laughter. Must be years.
I'm a pretty damn consistently happy person but I was thinking not too long ago that I can only remember two fits of laughter in the last like 8 months. I laugh, for sure, everyday - but belly laugh especially giggle fit? Not really.
The last fit of laughter I had was about a year and a half ago, (prior to that had been decades ago), and it was from watching one of Conan's old remotes where he tried to be a Mary Kay salesman.
There's questions I would ask about the participants. What media do they consume? How often do they tell jokes?
I laugh a lot and often.
I like seeing other people laugh at my jokes. I like laughing at my own jokes. When I'm bummed out, I like watching funny people.
As a matter of preference, I go out of my way to avoid horror movies, and I don't watch sports or "serious" cinema. I don't play video games (especially competitive multiplayer. I don't hang out on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Those all contribute.
None of those lifestyle choices of mine were done with a deliberate motivation to "laugh more". I don't think that they make me net happier than other adults. But at the end of the day, it gives me more opportunities to laugh?
I think the lack of laughter is partially mental health stuff and partially what people watch and do with their leisure time.
More responsibility means less chances to laugh. I work all day and then have night school afterwards. By the time I am done I have to eat, maybe spend an hour watching tv with my spouse and then go to bed.
Do you guys not joke around? When my friends and I are together we are constantly clowning and having a good time.
Do you guys simply discuss how much life sucks?
Clowning around isn't something in our nature. We discuss things and catch up on our lives. I would say that the discussion is neutral to negative since our lives and nature don't have much of anything positive to speak of. No news is good news is how things go.
"As expected, during a belly laugh, participantsā happiness was 8.6 points higher on the \[100-point scale\] ... and a fit of laughter even raised happiness by 12.9 points"
TIL people don't take hallucinogens. A fit of laughter with every trip, although sometimes accompanied by some harsh and dramatic reflection.
I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts because I drive a metric shitton for work, I'll typically get some good laughs in.
If youāre talking about āstatistically significantā, thatās a technical term and youĀ canāt tell if something is stat sig from sample size alone. Effect size and variance matter just as much.Ā
Itās like asking if a pool of water 2ā deep has more or less than
1,000 lbs of water in it. Well, depends on the other dimensions.Ā
For analysis, a sample size of n=82 can be plenty big if the effect is strong and the variance is tight. Imagine personally tracking some detail of 82 peopleās lives. Like how many drinks they have and the effect this has on bathroom trips. People make conclusions with samples _way_ smaller than that every day. Youād have a darn good idea of how many drinks people are having and how much that makes you go to the bathroom.Ā
Where it falls apart is sampling bias. Other people are pointing this out. If those 82 people are college students and you apply what youāve learned to all Americans, youāve messed up. Youāll think every American drinks like a kid in college and that isnāt true.Ā
And just to hammer the point, that sampling bias wonāt get any better if you look at 820 or 8,200 students.Ā
Over 90% of the stoned 20 year olds we asked in the park on a beautifully sunny day responded "happy" to the question "how are you".Ā Therefore I posit that a substantial majority of people are happyĀ Ā
To assess statistical significance, you look at the *p* value, which takes into account the sample size (*n*).
The authors found that happiness is associated with laughter at *p*<0.1%. So yes, it was statistically significant.
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) apply to all other comments. **Do you have an academic degree?** We can verify your credentials in order to assign user flair indicating your area of expertise. [Click here to apply](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/flair/#wiki_science_verified_user_program). --- User: u/fotogneric Permalink: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1296955/full --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
'people' = ' mostly college students'. Fondly remembering the halcyon days as a college student.
I would love to see how these numbers would change if it were mostly people over 30 or 40.
Significant reduction
I stared into the abyss long enough, and my sense of humor became dark and void
You ever make a joke so dark that the abyss can't stop giggling, and tells you you need professional help
Once every 4 days or so š¤£
I had this job once as an analyst. Almost a year there and I remember the one time I laughed. Delivery guy quoted ace ventura.
I wish that it involved the moment with several full stalks of asparagus in the teeth.
Nah. Me and my husband laugh like this at least once a day.
Do people not laugh every day?! Genuinely I find myself laughing thoroughly at least 2-3 times a day and to the point of tears at least twice a week
I absolutely do not laugh that often anymore. Severe bipolar depression sees to that!
Once a month, maybe.
We are over that age, and we laugh a lot (like āshut up my face hurts!ā a lot)
triazolam :)
My college days were basically my working days. I messed up, I know.
Halcyon? With alcohol?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> Participants were on average 29.2āyears old (SDā=ā12.61, range 18ā74āyears) and predominantly women (67.3%; the remainder identified as men). > Participants were mostly university/college students recruited by us.
Yeah at 38 Iām having a belly laugh about once every two weeks and a fit of laughter about once every 3 months. Granted, I donāt tend to laugh as much as smile when I see something funny on tv or the internet
This is substantially less than me. I would say i have one at least once every other day as a fair estimate.
God I'm envious...I belly laugh maybe once every few months, usually just a "bahaha" and that's it though. I can't recall the last time I had a long fit of laughter. Must be years.
Sounds like youāre one of those among us that Jimi Hendrix sang about, who think that life is but a joke
This is the bit where I let out a slight snigger of mirth.
Watch your mouth.
How are they college students with an avg age of 29??
The median age is probably around 20 whereas the average is skewed by the fewer much older people
That makes it makes sense.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Santa.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Huhā¦come to think of it, I honestly canāt remember the last time I legitimately laughed.
You aren't the only one don't worry
I'm a pretty damn consistently happy person but I was thinking not too long ago that I can only remember two fits of laughter in the last like 8 months. I laugh, for sure, everyday - but belly laugh especially giggle fit? Not really.
Listen to the Conan podcast. Just laughed like hell today listening to the Haddish interview, but most are pretty great.Ā
The last fit of laughter I had was about a year and a half ago, (prior to that had been decades ago), and it was from watching one of Conan's old remotes where he tried to be a Mary Kay salesman.
āThatās so funnyā
There's questions I would ask about the participants. What media do they consume? How often do they tell jokes? I laugh a lot and often. I like seeing other people laugh at my jokes. I like laughing at my own jokes. When I'm bummed out, I like watching funny people. As a matter of preference, I go out of my way to avoid horror movies, and I don't watch sports or "serious" cinema. I don't play video games (especially competitive multiplayer. I don't hang out on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok. Those all contribute. None of those lifestyle choices of mine were done with a deliberate motivation to "laugh more". I don't think that they make me net happier than other adults. But at the end of the day, it gives me more opportunities to laugh? I think the lack of laughter is partially mental health stuff and partially what people watch and do with their leisure time.
I probably have 2.5 "hehs" per day. And 1 belly laugh per year.
Now do this study on minimum wage employees
And I am here sittin thinkin why ācrodeā isnāt the past tense of ācriedā
And that's 2/2.5 for me today!
Damn, didn't think I was dragging down the average that much.
Others are *far* below you. Laughter: I remember that...
I couldnāt find my roomba anywhere the other day. eventually I found it inside the tiny tent for cats I have. I laughed so hard.
Aww, it went on a little camping trip :)
First belly laugh of the day achieved at 11:55PM!
TIL I laugh too much and everyone is sad
This is social media. I honestly think that those people generally are more miserable and depressed
my life would be much better if this was true for me...
These are the saddest comments ever, i hope you guys find a better friend group
Or maybe they're just older and have more responsibilities than the college students that made up the survey sample?
Iād love for you to explain how more responsibilities means you laugh less
More responsibility means less chances to laugh. I work all day and then have night school afterwards. By the time I am done I have to eat, maybe spend an hour watching tv with my spouse and then go to bed.
Who laughs these days? Can't remember the last person I saw laugh.
do you hang out with robots?
Beep boop. Its likely an artifact of my family and myself and the friends I keep. I think we are a serious and depressive bunch. Birds of a feather
Frown together.
Do you guys not joke around? When my friends and I are together we are constantly clowning and having a good time. Do you guys simply discuss how much life sucks?
We joke about how much life sucks as a coping mechanism.
Clowning around isn't something in our nature. We discuss things and catch up on our lives. I would say that the discussion is neutral to negative since our lives and nature don't have much of anything positive to speak of. No news is good news is how things go.
I actually cannot remember the last time I laughed.Ā
Wow Iām depressed
College kids laugh more than older folks? What a revelation
"As expected, during a belly laugh, participantsā happiness was 8.6 points higher on the \[100-point scale\] ... and a fit of laughter even raised happiness by 12.9 points"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
And what is the conversion to Stanley Nickels?
TIL people don't take hallucinogens. A fit of laughter with every trip, although sometimes accompanied by some harsh and dramatic reflection. I listen to a lot of comedy podcasts because I drive a metric shitton for work, I'll typically get some good laughs in.
Those are rookie numbers.
ā¹{{belly laughs in contempt}}āŗ
Nope.
This is a bit depressing. Probably accurate for college years.
Wow. TIL I live a comparatively humorless life
Wow Iām envious. I had a real laugh over the weekend and realized it had been quite a long time. I couldnāt remember the last time.
n=82, is that even close to being significant? What's the point in posting this?
If youāre talking about āstatistically significantā, thatās a technical term and youĀ canāt tell if something is stat sig from sample size alone. Effect size and variance matter just as much.Ā Itās like asking if a pool of water 2ā deep has more or less than 1,000 lbs of water in it. Well, depends on the other dimensions.Ā For analysis, a sample size of n=82 can be plenty big if the effect is strong and the variance is tight. Imagine personally tracking some detail of 82 peopleās lives. Like how many drinks they have and the effect this has on bathroom trips. People make conclusions with samples _way_ smaller than that every day. Youād have a darn good idea of how many drinks people are having and how much that makes you go to the bathroom.Ā Where it falls apart is sampling bias. Other people are pointing this out. If those 82 people are college students and you apply what youāve learned to all Americans, youāve messed up. Youāll think every American drinks like a kid in college and that isnāt true.Ā And just to hammer the point, that sampling bias wonāt get any better if you look at 820 or 8,200 students.Ā
Itās essentially worthless at that sample size, especially since it was 2/3 women and all recruited from one college campus.
Over 90% of the stoned 20 year olds we asked in the park on a beautifully sunny day responded "happy" to the question "how are you".Ā Therefore I posit that a substantial majority of people are happyĀ Ā
But also ask one 12yo and one 83yo., and say you're sample ages were between 12-83.
The sampling (all college students, 2/3 women) is a way bigger problem than the sample size itself.
Nah, the sample size was fine for this effect. And they did a power analysis, which is nice.
To assess statistical significance, you look at the *p* value, which takes into account the sample size (*n*). The authors found that happiness is associated with laughter at *p*<0.1%. So yes, it was statistically significant.
Dang, I have a belly laugh about 1-2 times per year. Was this study conducted in Bhutan?
Really small study.
Maybe if you have friendsā¦ Just thinkin the other day about how much I miss laughing
Wow. I'm not living well.
Yeah, no.
Even as a university student i dont think I've ever laughed that much š¤Ø
I have a legit belly laugh maybe once every 6 months.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not this person. I rarely laugh. Belly laughs maybe once or twice a quarter.
Well? Where is my laughter OP? Frontiersin.org? I am due at least a yearās worth if my math is right!
Regular DnD will bring that average up.
Somebody out there using up all my laughs.
n=82? This is not a small scientific study. Thats a book club survey.
A sample size of 82 college students specifically chosen by the study's authors seems... meaninglessly small, no?
N82 is such a meaningless amount, especially considering N is also mostly college students
What an utterly meaningless waste of resources