Introduction to the Special Issue of the Scientific Study of Laughter: Where We Have Been, Current Innovations, and Where We Might Go From Here

Abstract

In his pioneering work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin (1872/1965) argued that laughter was the outward expression of mirth. In the 150 years since the publication of this book, research has revealed that laughter is substantially more complex, nuanced, and socially important than Darwin theorized. The current special issue highlights recent discoveries regarding the nature of laughter and illuminates numerous themes. These include the importance of both representational and constructionist accounts of laughter, the value of studying naturally-occurring laughter “in the wild,” evoked in a variety of contexts (including contexts likely to elicit derisive laughter), and the critical advantage of pre-registration and other open science practices for improving our scientific understanding of laughter.