psychology
This is what it says about you when you have to laugh in unpleasant situations
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Have you ever started laughing when a friend told you the stupid thing that happened to him/her? You didn’t mean to react like that – but your body did it automatically. You can find out why and what this reveals about you here.
We can react to bad news from friends in different ways. Some people withdraw, others try to help with simple sentences like “It’ll be okay,” and others start laughing. Are you – at least sometimes – one of the latter? Then you’ve probably asked yourself why you had to laugh in this particular situation. Comforting words or a hug would have been much more appropriate. Instead, the corners of your mouth turned up and you wanted to sink into the ground.
Why do you have to laugh in unpleasant situations? In one Jana Schmid, psychologist and mental health expert at the Fürstenberg Institute, explains this phenomenon in an interview with “watson”.
That’s why you laugh, even when it’s inappropriate
When someone tells you something, you feel for him:her. “We ourselves feel the emotions that we think we recognize in our counterparts”, explains Jana Schmid. This can be joy, sadness, anger or other feelings. Especially with negative emotions, such as despair, a central basic psychological need is required: “The need for orientation and control – we want to have things ‘under control’. If this becomes shaky, a natural stress reaction is triggered, which mobilizes energy to be able to deal with the situation better.”
And this reaction varies depending on your personality. You may start to sweat, blush, get weak in the knees, cry, or even laugh. Even if it doesn’t fit at all. “Laughing ‘happens’ to us at this moment. It’s not something we decide to do. So we can hardly control it,” says the psychologist. Laughter is probably “a kind of outlet in a high-tension situation.” At this moment you feel overwhelmed and, at least at first, you don’t know how best to deal with the situation. Grinning or laughing sends positive signals to the brain and relieves tension.
This behavior can occur not only when you listen to others, but also when you report negative experiences yourself. The phenomenon is also known on TikTok:
And how do you get out of the situation?
You’re probably familiar with this: you actively try to suppress a stimulus, for example laughing, and this only makes it worse; you can’t stop laughing. The reason for this is that this attempt at suppression can “increase the tension and result in laughter as a jumping-off point.” Instead of suppressing the impulse, Jana Schmid gives the tip to distract yourself. Also yourself to excuse could help and relieve the tension. And what “right” reaction then follows depends entirely on your friend. Is he:she the hugging type? Then give him a big hug. If he wants: them to talk, listen. And if not, you can just be there and sit next to him:her – for many this is a great emotional support.
Sources used: watson.de, meine.at, tiktok.com