NORTHERN PLANNER

This taxi driver was marginally funny the other week. He got very, very lost, and he had an asphyxiating cocktail of air fresheners. As soon as I Stu giggling to himself, I couldn’t help joining in . The harder I tried to stop, the worse it got, especially when Kirsten joined in. How come something mildly amusing became so rib tickling?

This morning I heard that they’ve discovered that the reason for infectious laughing like this. It’s all linked to human empathy – a way for groups to get closer together.

When we see others display a strong wave of emotion, our bodies are biologically hardwired to feel it too. This imperative is stronger for positive emotions than negative. So although we may sometimes feel our lips quiver when we someone crying from time to time, we’re more likely to join in infectious laughing or singing along to together.

It begins to explain a lot, from football chants to the reason a funny film makes you chuckle on your own, but laugh out loud in a group. It may even explain why I found myself actually enjoying a Take That concert last year (Her Indoors wanted to go), although the hordes of screaming hormonal women may have had something to do with it too.