Having a good laugh—Case’s SAGES way
University’s new small, interdisciplinary seminars that emphasize active inquiry and open discussion are no joke
December 15, 2004 | For more information: Susan Griffith (216)-368-1004
 When Case Western Reserve University Professor Tom Bishop missed the first session of his undergraduate seminar course due to a scheduling error, some of the students left waiting thought it was a practical joke—especially since the course is called “Laughter.”
But instead of leaving after the 15-minute grace period for no-show professors, the 12 sophomores got the ball rolling—they told jokes and talked about what they thought the course would be like. When Bishop arrived for the next session, he found that the class had already transformed itself from “a collection of mutually unknown students into a beginning community,” ready to get serious about the lighter side of life.
 These students are participants in SAGES (Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship), the new general education curriculum at Case. As of fall 2005, all Case undergraduates will take a series of small, interdisciplinary seminars that emphasize active inquiry and open discussion. The fact that Bishop’s students were willing to proceed without a professor suggests that they have become the sort of independent learners that SAGES is intended to foster.
 In designing his seminar, Bishop realized that nearly every discipline has something to say about laughter. He collected an array of readings from psychology, philosophy, medicine, literature, history and sociology, all concerned with the question of why people laugh.
“Laughing is something that everyone knows how to do, and everyone, indeed, is an expert at it,” said Bishop, a Shakespearean scholar who also teaches about comedy in his literature classes.
“Laughter was my first choice for a class,” said Jennifer Gilbert, of Cincinnati, Ohio. “I assumed (correctly) that we would be watching and analyzing humorous situations. I know I love to laugh, and the whole atmosphere of laughter has definitely proven to enable everyone to be comfortable with everyone else and speak their mind.”
Over the weeks of this semester, students looked at laughter festivals such as Mardi Gras. They studied clowning with help from Robert Kreidler, head of the Ohio Clown College. They learned about clown-based dance trends emerging in Los Angeles youth culture in response to urban stress. They have taken field trips to a performance by Case’s Improvment Theater group and to Cabaret Dada in downtown Cleveland, where actress and improv comedian Maria Livers put into practice the comic techniques she had described during a class visit.
The search for why we laugh also includes a serious look at classical philosophers like Aristotle, Cicero and Plato and later theorists, including Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, Soren Kierkegaard and Sigmund Freud.
So, why do we laugh?
According to Bishop, three theories about laughter stand out: a theory of “superiority” involving a feeling of exaltation at someone else’s expense; a theory of “incongruity” or disconnection between expectations and reality; and a theory of “relief.”
To test these theories, Bishop has his students gathering empirical evidence from their own lives. Students keep journals and document why, when and where people laugh in their everyday lives. They record social situations, physical gestures and even questions that occur to them about their own behavior and the kinds of conversations in which people laugh.
The journals have proven insightful. “I have become more aware of how and why I laugh. It’s always pleasing to understand oneself better,” commented Chris Williams, of Russell, Ky.
Along the way, students have noted several phenomena that other researchers also have observed. For example, in mixed company, women laugh more than men, but men tell more jokes.
From keeping journals to clowning around to presenting research projects, the students give attention to something everyone does, but few people stop to think about. Bishop concludes that “we’re having a good time while learning a lot about the nature of laughing and its role in our lives.”
Laughing is no simple matter as Yevgenia Baron of Solon, Ohio, found out. “It takes many variables to go from a smile or smirk to a laugh. It depends on the mood of the person, time of day, overall personality and fatigue level,” she said. “But, it really can be something contagious—even if the original person starts laughing for no reason.”
About Case Western Reserve University
Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826
and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western
Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research,
service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally
recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering,
Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu.
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