Uncovering an archive of laughter, from the forbidden giggle to the explosive guffaw. Most of our theories of laughter are not concerned with laughter. Rather, their focus is the laughable object, whether conceived of as the comic, the humorous, jokes, the grotesque, the ridiculous, or the ludicrous. In Laughter, Anca Parvulescu proposes a return to the materiality of the burst of laughter itself. She sets out to uncover an archive of laughter, inviting us to follow its rhythms and listen to its tones. Historically, laughter—especially the passionate burst of laughter—has often been a faux pas. Manuals for conduct, abetted by philosophical treatises and literary and visual texts, warned against it, offering special injunctions to ladies to avoid jollity that was too boisterous. Returning laughter to the history of the passions, Parvulescu anchors it at the point where the history of the grimacing face meets the history of noise. In the civilizing process that leads to laughter's “falling into disrepute,” as Nietzsche famously put it, we can see the formless, contorted face in laughter being slowly corrected into a calm, social smile. How did the twentieth century laugh? Parvulescu points to a gallery of twentieth-century laughers and friends of laughter, arguing that it is through Georges Bataille that the century laughed its most distinct laugh. In Bataille's wake, laughter becomes the passion at the heart of poststructuralism. Looking back at the century from this vantage point, Parvulescu revisits four of its most challenging projects: modernism, the philosophical avant-gardes, feminism, and cinema. The result is an overview of the twentieth century as seen through the laughs that burst at some of its most convoluted junctures.

Laughter really can be the best medicine, and in this transformative body-mind guide, acclaimed wellness expert Ros Ben-Moshe shares the prescription. In The Laughter Effect, Ros Ben-Moshe provides a roadmap to tap into the lighter side of life with laughter therapy. Ben-Moshe shares tips and tools to achieve an intentional state of being she calls the Laughter Effect–a way to elevate mindfulness, gratitude, and self-compassion. When used regularly, it enhances resilience to stress, enabling you to respond to adversity and bounce forward with humor, levity, and grace. Drawing on research from around the world, practice and wisdom from humor and laughter therapy, and positive psychology and neuroscience, Ben-Moshe shows you how to use the energy of laughter and joy to counter stress hormones and stimulate a daily dose of positive wellbeing with “happy hormones.” The techniques, strategies and practices you’ll learn can transform your physical, mental, social and emotional landscape. Viewing life through a laughter lens will awaken a positive change in yourself, how you respond to the world and, in turn, how the world responds to you.

The emergence of Positive Psychology has highlighted the importance of studying the good life and how to attain it. Positive life outcomes, such as well-being, thriving, flourishing, and happiness were discussed and investigated. Among them, different orientations to happiness were identified, such as a life of pleasure, life of meaning, and life of engagement. Other outcomes, such as subjective and objective fulfillment in life or societal recognition have been less studied. Among the characteristics that facilitate positive outcomes, the VIA-classification of strength and virtues distinguishes 24 strengths with humor/playfulness being one of them. Only a small segment of humor entered the definition of humor as character strengths, namely the parts that contain some “goodness”. Humor as a character strength facilitates a lot of positive outcomes, such as positive emotions and positive relationships, and there is a “lightness” accompanying humor/playfulness. The field is broader though and transcends the definition of humor as used in positive psychology, in at least two ways. First, there is actually a family of overlapping but still distinct concepts with different research traditions. We include next to humor (and types of humor), also laughter, playfulness, and cheerfulness. We think that more research is needed on how they do overlap and what makes them distinct. Second, while positive psychology is interested in the goodness of we do want to stress that there is the need to study the non-virtuous parts as well. That is, laughter may not only be expressing amusement but scorn directed at people, humor may be benevolent but there is also sarcasm, and playfulness may elicit positive emotions but also risk-prone and immature types of behavior. Therefore, the aim of this Research Topic was to collect current perspectives on humor, playfulness, laughter, and cheerfulness in both adults and children, to study their full diversity but also interrelations and overlapping features, to introduce new instruments or ways for their assessment in future studies, and to study their causes and consequences in a variety of life domains. We encouraged studies on differences due to gender or nationality, the embodiment in different groups (e.g., class clowns, psychiatric patients), or whether or not they can be trained. We also welcomed contributions from adjacent disciplines (e.g., education, leisure studies, or therapy/counseling) and different regions of the earth. The outcome is a set of 33 manuscripts from altogether 101 authors. Not all areas are covered and not all aims were met; while we made progress there is much left to do. In this sense, the merging of these topics may be the first milestone but like every milestone, it only marks the beginning of a long journey.