Khaberni - Many complain that they cannot control themselves from laughing at wakes and funerals, causing extremely embarrassing situations, and a recent study attempted to investigate the underlying reasons behind this habit.
According to the study published in the journal «Psychology of Communication», there is a term for this condition called: suppression of expressions. This occurs when you freeze your face and hope that the feeling of laughter will go away on its own. However, this hope is misplaced. In fact, when you try to forcefully control your facial expressions, it does not eliminate the funny situation, but rather traps it, making matters worse.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Göttingen, involved 121 participants in three experiments. The volunteers listened to jokes while they tried different strategies to control their reactions. Sensors measured the fine movements of facial muscles while the participants rated how funny the jokes were.
Most people instinctively used expressive suppression, tightening their facial muscles and forcing themselves to maintain a neutral expression. This approach was partially successful, as the faces remained mostly immobile. Internally, however, nothing was calm. The jokes seemed just as funny, and often funnier. What made things worse was not outright laughter, but almost laughter. Participants who maintained completely neutral facial expressions reported feeling less pleasure than those who lost control even a little.
The only methods that succeeded in dampening the reaction were those that stopped the effect of the joke. Analyzing removed the element of timing and surprise, and it was enough just to stop reacting.
The researchers then presented the real, more intense reason: the laughter of others. When participants heard laughter after a joke, suppression was no longer possible. The facial muscles activated frequently and more intensely, even as the participants tried their best to suppress their laughter. Once someone laughed, everything let loose.
That's why funeral laughter feels harsh. You're suppressing a lot of emotions inside you. Someone smiles lightly or coughs in a weird way, and your face reacts before you can control it. Then, you do everything in your power to contain it.
The study does not offer a magical solution, and that is essentially the crux of the matter. Laughter is involuntary, social, and stubborn. Trying to suppress it forcibly increases the intensity of the reaction instead of stopping it.
This also explains why these moments are common. Almost everyone remembers a time when they burst into laughter at an inappropriate time, not because they wanted to, but because our minds simply couldn’t control themselves.
