A theory I’ve heard that handles this more general class of observations is that laughter specifically marks simply “relief from potentially scary tension” (which covers a very wide class of surprises).
A snap in the forest plus a fluttering of birds… people freeze and look for tigers feeling scared… someone sees that it is a child playing a trick… laughs… everyone relaxes.
A theory I’ve heard that handles this more general class of observations is that laughter specifically marks simply “relief from potentially scary tension” (which covers a very wide class of surprises).
A snap in the forest plus a fluttering of birds… people freeze and look for tigers feeling scared… someone sees that it is a child playing a trick… laughs… everyone relaxes.