Uncontrallable Laughter 2

           Often times, my girlfriend, Kirsten, and I mess with each other because we clearly have nothing better to do with our time and energy (obviously). One of the ways in which I mess with her is by preventing her from leaving whatever seating position we’re in. Her response? She finds all my most ticklish spots and terrorizes me until I concede, crippled with the uncontrollable laughter that accompanies tickling.

            Laughter due to being tickled is often theorized to arise from the anticipation of being tickled without the knowledge of when it will happen, and when it does finally happen, the victim is released from his or her anticipatory anxiety, satisfying the basic requirements of the release theory. Moreover, the reason I could not stop laughing after the tickling had subsided most likely results from the fear that the Kirsten might strike again.

            In terms of the benign violation theory, the violation is the timing, providing an element of anticipated surprise that is not necessarily violent or creepy in this context since I happen to know my girlfriend rather well and am thus not afraid of her tickling me as I might be if she were a stranger. In another way, she violates my sense of my own personal space by touching places in my body that are sensitive to tickling, but, again, she does this in a non-threatening way in order to remain within the confines of the benign violation theory.

            Lastly, it is often thought that tickling causes us to laugh because our body is endeavoring to protect itself from harm (the places being touched seemingly places that need protection by some other mechanism, like the ribs). If this is the case, then the tickling would cause laughter on a third premise, and obviously, triads make all things seem much more legitimate, so my laughter satisfied a number of theories that ensures that it was a sensibly uncontrollable fit of laughter rather than one that was purely illogical.