Im married to evanston its good to have you with us we begin with some breaking news coming in police in somalia say more than a dozen people have been killed by a car bomb in mogadishu dozens of people were injured a bomb according to police the bomb was detonated during the morning rush hour at a busy security checkpoint local broadcaster radio dolphins side of the mayor is saying that several University Students were among the dead no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Well for the latest were joined now on the line by somali journalist abdul aziz. So im doing these were hearing that this was a very intense blast what more can you tell us. Well just as you have mentioned despite this is no claim of responsibility yet but these are all the hallmarks of part of the previous outset of attacks now as you mentioned the tactic take place out of security under taxation checkpoints southwest of mogadishu during rush hour these subsidies the fusty of the weekend overseas so
A good laugh herself and having others rolling around the floor talking to neuroscientist professor of cognitive psychology and stand up comic saucy scott. Scott welcome to the show its really great to have you with us so let me start of by asking why is laughter important to psychology i mean laughter hasnt been studied for a long time why are scientists getting into it now. I think theres probably 2 on sista that i think 11 on sirius that psychologists neuroscientists have got a lot more interested in positive emotions in general most of the research in psychology into emotions has focused on negative emotions and theres been a general recognition of the last 15 or so years that we need to pay more attention supposed to be emotions and i think secondly loft when you start to Pay Attention to it i see a very interesting emotion in terms of how interesting me its used by humans but also how extremely widespread he says so what we actually tried to deconstruct in detail wise laughter so
Anywhere in the world many things that emotions are very different from place to place but these emotions fear and get discussed sadness surprise and laughter they are recognized everywhere and they seem to be use in their core in very similar way so cultures can still be very different in how they use laughter but at the core youll find it has this very Important Role in social interactions and and of course were not the only animals that love so these same basic emotions including laughter are always certain emotions that we find versions of in other mammals well talk about that in a bit later but before that in a tad talk you would have pointed out the lack of laughter recognition among boys with traits does that mean that people who never laugh are somewhat mentally disturbed more or less. No i think its probably not that simple so i think theres an interesting distinction to draw between. Learning to love and learning to love with other people and the things that could affect you
A behavior that appears even in deaf and blind babies even if youve never heard of seen laughter you will laugh if youre tickled by a parents. And then we learn how to use us in a more complex way and one of the things that we learn is to have to join in with laughter contagiously to laugh when somebody else laughs even if you dont know why theyre laughing now that was what seemed to be destructed in the boys with risk of psych psychopathy so the boys would conduct disorders and the boys who have the high in callous and unemotional traits they behaved badly and they dont care if they hurt you and that of course we dont know what the the cause is that we dont know if. They have had different experiences that mean they have never learnt to love contagiously. We also dont know if theres Something Different about those boys that mean even if there were those opportunities they did not laugh they didnt learn how to do that something is stopping them from learning so obviously we need to kno
It actually is a very interesting emotion in terms of how interesting me its used by humans but also how extremely widespread he says ok so what were going to actually try to deconstruct in detail wise laughter so peculiar and interesting lets start with gestures like gestures like nodding or finger rocking are different have different meaning from region to region but laughter and smiles theres sort of universal arent they. Exactly so as far as we can see there are a subset of emotions with the express or the face of the voice which you can find anywhere in the world many things about emotions are very different from place to place but these emotions fear anger disgust sadness surprise and laughter they are recognized everywhere and they seem to be use in their core in very similar way so cultures can still be very different in how they use laughter but at the core youll find it has its very Important Role in social interactions and and of course were not the only animals that love so