People who don't like it when other people laugh freak me out.
There are exceptions to this of course; people who find it funny to cause pain or humiliation also freak me out, and their laughter is often of the nails-on-a-chalkboard variety. They aren't in mirth, they're in creepy monkey domination. But genuine, honest laughter at funny things is divine, a wonderfully healthy experience that literally heals body, mind and spirit, and bonds healthy people with each other. Not the same thing as following a crowd, laughter bonding is when healthy people with good boundaries connect because they each, individually, find the same thing funny, they aren't copying one another, which makes the bonding genuine and uplifting.
People who don't like it when others laugh:
Comedian Robert Lynch who is also a doctoral student found that self-deception influences a person's ease in laughter. Meghan Holohan writes about his observations here:
http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/05/21/11760729-people-who-dont-laugh-easily-are-only-fooling-themselves?lite
There are exceptions to this of course; people who find it funny to cause pain or humiliation also freak me out, and their laughter is often of the nails-on-a-chalkboard variety. They aren't in mirth, they're in creepy monkey domination. But genuine, honest laughter at funny things is divine, a wonderfully healthy experience that literally heals body, mind and spirit, and bonds healthy people with each other. Not the same thing as following a crowd, laughter bonding is when healthy people with good boundaries connect because they each, individually, find the same thing funny, they aren't copying one another, which makes the bonding genuine and uplifting.
People who don't like it when others laugh:
- People who are literally paranoid, they automatically think it's about them. Or they assume they are being excluded, and don't bother to find out if their assumption is correct.
- People who believe they are "above" others, and so their sense of humor is "above" as well, and you, inferior creature, couldn't possibly understand their high level of dry wit, so your laughter must be fake... you're just trying to act like you get it...
- People who believe they are entitled to say what is funny, and what is not, and if you laugh at something they find not funny, you are stupid, crazy, spastic, unstable, or annoying.
- People who feel entitled to control other people; they often dole out consequences to those they enjoy controlling if they laugh out loud in public. Laughter draws positive attention, and control freaks do not like positive attention going to anyone they have deemed "lesser". The date of a control freak may be sitting stone-faced in the audience of a comedy show, even if the control freak is laughing at every joke. Also, the control freak might be the one sitting stone-faced, and will only "allow" their date to laugh when they give their "approval".
Comedian Robert Lynch who is also a doctoral student found that self-deception influences a person's ease in laughter. Meghan Holohan writes about his observations here:
http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/05/21/11760729-people-who-dont-laugh-easily-are-only-fooling-themselves?lite
