Humor and Quirks
by (remove) : Scientific American
RSS • JSON • XML • CSV
Humor and Quirks
by (remove) : Scientific American
RSS • JSON • XML • CSV

Great Apes Joke Around, Suggesting Humor Is Older Than Humans


Published on 2024-12-17 09:51:30 - Scientific American
  Print publication without navigation

  • Young children find repetitive physical jokes incredibly entertaining. The humor centers on a moment of surprise: something unexpected happening. And yet these interactions are typically repeated over and over. The unexpected moment becomes an expected part of the game. Peekaboo!

The article from Scientific American discusses a study that suggests humor and playful teasing might have origins predating human evolution, as observed in great apes. Researchers found that orangutans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas engage in behaviors that resemble human joking, such as offering an object and then withdrawing it, poking or hitting others, or engaging in physical antics like swinging or rolling. These actions, which require an understanding of another's expectations and the ability to violate them playfully, indicate that the cognitive underpinnings of humor could be deeply rooted in our evolutionary past. The study highlights that such playful behaviors might serve social functions like bonding or establishing dominance, and it challenges the notion that humor is uniquely human, suggesting instead that it might be a shared trait among primates.

Read the Full Scientific American Article at:
[ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/great-apes-joke-around-suggesting-humor-is-older-than-humans/ ]
Contributing Sources