Sophie Scott: Why we laugh
소피 스캇: 우리는 왜 웃는가
While exploring the neuroscience of speech and vocal behavior, Sophie Scott stumbled upon a surprising second vocation: making audiences laugh as a stand-up comic. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
to you today about laughter,
'웃음'에 대하여 말씀드리겠습니다.
by thinking about the first time
생각하면서 시작하겠습니다.
I would've been about six.
한 여섯 살쯤이었을 겁니다.
doing something unusual,
하시는 걸 봤습니다.
laughing at, but I wanted in.
몰랐지만 저도 끼고 싶었어요.
going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)
"후 후!" 했습니다. (웃음)
what they were laughing at
signs in toilets on trains
관련 된 것이었어요.
and could not do
할 수 있는 일과 없는 일을
about the English is, of course,
유머감각이 있다는 겁니다.
sophisticated sense of humor.
understand anything of that.
I've come to care about it again.
관심을 갖게 되었습니다.
is just play some examples
몇 가지 예를 보여 드릴겁니다.
얼마나 이상한지
people make and how odd that can be,
원시적인지 생각해 보세요.
laughter is as a sound.
than it is like speech.
짐승의 소리에 가깝습니다.
The first one is pretty joyful.
기쁜 소리입니다.
where I'm just, like,
숨을 좀 들이마셔야겠다 싶을걸요.
like he's breathing out.
(Laughter)
(웃음)
this is a human female laughing.
odd places in terms of making noises.
정도라니 정말 신기합니다.
이게 뭐야?"라고 하는 겁니다.
what is that?" in French.
I have no idea.
저는 모르겠어요.
you have to look at a part of the body
신체 부분을 봐야합니다.
don't normally spend much time looking at,
별로 신경쓰지 않는 흉곽인데
your ribcage all the time.
멈추지 않는 일인데 호흡입니다.
at the moment with your ribcage,
the muscles between your ribs,
흉곽을 부풀렸다 줄였다 해서요.
and contracting your ribcage,
띠를 두르고 움직임을 살펴보시면
around the outside of your chest
at that movement,
보실텐데 그게 호흡입니다.
movement, so that's breathing.
호흡은 완전히 달라집니다.
completely differently.
바로 그런 것이지요.
something much more like this.
매우 정교하게 흉곽을 움직입니다.
movements of the ribcage
유일한 동물이라 대화를 할 수 있죠.
that can do this.
has a mortal enemy,
웃을 때 일어나는 일은
start to contract very regularly,
sort of zig-zagging,
형태를 갖게 되는데
the air out of you.
of making a sound.
기본적인 방법입니다.
it's having the same effect.
같은 결과가 나올겁니다.
인해 하! 하는 소리가 나는겁니다.
Ha! -- gives you a sound.
이런 발작이 일어납니다.
you can get these spasms,
these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.
there isn't very much,
everything we think we know
것이 사실은 잘못 알고 있는 겁니다.
to hear people to say
웃는 다고 생각했습니다.
are the only animals that laugh.
웃음이 발견됩니다.
throughout the mammals.
and well-observed in primates,
잘 관찰되고 설명됩니다.
어디서든 찾을 수 있습니다.
with things like tickling.
발견할 수 있습니다.
and all mammals play.
모든 포유류는 놀이를 합니다.
it's associated with interactions.
관련이 있습니다.
a lot of work on this,
more likely to laugh
다른 사람과 같이 있을 때
than if you're on your own,
like conversation.
"When do you laugh?"
웃으시나요?"하고 묻는 다면
about humor and they'll talk about jokes.
농담 등을 말할 겁니다.
they're laughing with their friends.
친구들과 함께 웃습니다.
hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.
사실 농담때문에 웃지 않습니다.
that you understand them,
part of the same group as them.
속해 있다고 보여주는 겁니다.
심지어 사랑하는 걸지도 모르죠.
that you like them.
동시에 하는 겁니다.
as talking to them,
정서적인 역할을 하죠.
of that emotional work for you.
우리가 웃었던 이유는,
has pointed out, as you can see here,
웃음소리를 들었을 때와
funny laughs at the start,
계실 때 제가 웃었던 이유는
when I found my parents laughing,
전염성을 가지고 있기 때문입니다.
behaviorally contagious effect.
전염될 수 있습니다.
따라 웃게 될 겁니다.
off somebody else if you know them.
여전히 영향을 받습니다.
by this social context.
meaning of laughter
is different kinds of laughter,
다른 종류의 웃음입니다.
about how human beings vocalize
있는데 인간이 내는 웃음에
two kinds of laughs that we have.
for helpless, involuntary laughter,
비자발적인 웃음이 있습니다.
screaming about a silly song,
바닥을 구르며 소리질렀던 것처럼요.
than some of that more polite
예의 있는 사회적 웃음보다는
which isn't horrible laughter,
as part of their communicative act to you,
행위의 부분으로써의 행동입니다.
they are choosing to do this.
선택적으로 하는 겁니다.
two different ways of vocalizing.
방법의 발성을 발달시켰습니다.
are part of an older system
이렇게 말하는 것처럼
like the speech I'm doing now.
있다고 생각할 수 있습니다.
might actually have two different roots.
in more detail.
recordings of people laughing,
웃음소리를 녹음해야 했고
to make people laugh,
to produce more posed, social laughter.
사회적인 웃음을 웃게 했습니다.
you like your friend,
the joke's all that.
a couple of those.
억지웃음인지 말씀해 주세요.
this laughter is real laughter,
아니면 자발적인 건가요?
or more voluntary laughter?
소피 스캇: 네, 가짜에요.
Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.
(웃음) (박수)
이건 어쩔 수 없는 웃음이었습니다.
all they had to do was record me
듣고 있는 것을 제가 보고 있었고
something I knew she wanted to laugh at,
이렇게 웃음이 나왔어요.
are good at telling the difference
알 수 있습니다.
비슷한 걸 볼 수 있습니다.
quite similar with chimpanzees.
if they're being tickled
현상을 볼 수 있죠.
something like that here,
사회적 웃음과는 다른 것이죠.
being different from social laughter.
They're higher in pitch.
from your lungs
훨씬 높은 압력으로 합니다.
than you could ever produce voluntarily.
이렇게 높은 음정은 못 냅니다.
pitch my voice that high to sing.
이상한 휘파람 소리가 나는데
contractions and weird whistling sounds,
쉽게 구별하게 합니다.
is extremely easy,
we might think it sounds a bit fake.
좀 꾸민 것처럼 느끼죠.
an important social cue.
중요한 사회적 신호이죠.
많은 상황에서 웃을 것을 선택합니다.
to laugh in a lot of situations,
nasality in posed laughter,
콧소리가 납니다.
if you were laughing involuntarily.
안 나거나 할 수가 없습니다.
these two different sorts of things.
다른 종류인 것 같습니다.
to see how brains respond
어떻게 반응하는지 들여다 보았습니다.
this is a really boring experiment.
real and posed laughs.
it was a study on laughter.
알리지 않았습니다.
to distract them,
is lying listening to sounds.
소리를 듣는 게 다입니다.
and when you hear posed laughter,
가짜 웃음을 들을 때
completely differently,
상당히 다르게요.
청각 피질이 있는 곳인데
which lies in auditory cortex,
more to the real laughs,
더 반응하는 영역입니다.
laughing involuntarily,
hear in any other context.
들을 때였습니다. 매우 명확했죠.
매우 관련있는 것 같습니다.
with greater auditory processing
laughing in a posed way,
associated with mentalizing,
생각을 하는지 생각하고
somebody else is thinking.
있는 뇌 영역입니다.
재미없는 뇌 촬영을 하고 있어도
which is completely boring
웃는 소리를 들으면
"A ha ha ha ha ha,"
why they're laughing.
어떤 상황인지 알아내려고 합니다.
to understand it in context,
여러분과 꼭 관련이 없어도
at that point in time,
anything to do with you,
알고 싶어하는 것이죠.
why those people are laughing.
진짜 웃음과 가짜 웃음을
at how people hear real and posed laughter
볼 기회가 있었습니다.
온라인 실험입니다.
we ran with the Royal Society,
two questions.
들리는지 말해야 합니다.
or posed do these laughs sound?
가짜 웃음은 파란색으로 보입니다.
and the posed laughs are shown in blue.
더 잘 찾아냅니다.
and better at spotting real laughter.
they can't really hear the difference.
잘 구별을 못합니다.
peak performance in this dataset
late 30s and early 40s.
되어서야 최고점을 찍습니다.
by the time you hit puberty.
완전히 이해하지 못합니다.
by the time your brain has matured
완전히 성숙하기 전까지는
웃음에 대해 배우고 있는 겁니다.
throughout your entire early adult life.
not, what does the laughter sound like
가짜 웃음이 어떤 소리가 나는지 말고
or posed, but we say,
make you want to laugh,
봅시다. 다른 모습을 갖습니다.
we see a different profile.
들으면 더 같이 웃고 싶어 합니다.
when you hear laughter.
when I had no idea what was going on.
함께 웃고 싶어 하던 것 기억하시죠.
than the posed laughs,
더 전염성이 있다고 봅니다.
less contagious to you.
점점 더 전염성이 없게 되죠.
really grumpy as we get older,
understand laughter better,
hearing people laugh to want to laugh.
듣는 것 이상을 해야 합니다.
lay assumptions are incorrect,
there's even more to laughter
we should look at,
있다는 것을 알게 됐습니다.
people are phenomenally nuanced
있어서 놀라울 정도로
set of studies coming out
연구실에서 했습니다.
a longitudinal study with couples.
종적인 연구를 합니다.
men and women, into the lab,
연구실로 데려와서
stressful conversations to have
so he can see them becoming stressed.
스트레스 받고 있는 것을 보게 합니다.
and he'll say to the husband,
그가 남편에게 말합니다.
that irritates you."
하는 것을 말씀해 보세요."
여러분과 상대방이
briefly, you and your partner --
긴장되는 걸 다 아실 겁니다.
more stressed as soon as that starts.
people become more stressed.
신체적으로 볼 수 있습니다.
who manage that feeling of stress
positive emotions like laughter,
physically feeling better,
좋아진 걸 볼 수 있습니다.
unpleasant situation better together,
잘 극복을 하는 겁니다.
높은 수준의 만족감을 나타냈고
in their relationship
at close relationships,
their emotions together.
함께 조절하는지 보여줍니다.
to show that we like each other,
feel better together.
to be limited to romantic relationships.
국한되지 않을 겁니다.
going to be a characteristic
가까운 감정 관계의
such as you might have with friends,
young men in the former East Germany
their heavy metal band,
만든 영상입니다.
and the mood is very serious,
분위기가 매우 진지하죠.
what happens in terms of laughter
벌어지는 지 보세요.
분위기를 싹 바꿔버리는지요.
and how that changes the mood.
He's got swimming trunks on,
진지한 분위기죠.
They are already laughing, hard.
이미 격하게 웃고 있어요.
is it's all very serious
모두 진지하다는 겁니다.
as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,
얼음을 통과하지 못하지만
and bone everywhere,
with him standing there going,
것이라고 생각해 보세요.
I think this is broken,"
이거 부러진 것 같아."
That would be stressful.
웃으며 뛰어다니고
with a visibly broken leg laughing,
병원에 가야해."
think we need to go to the hospital now,"
상황으로 바꿔 주는 겁니다.
embarrassing, difficult situation,
actually enjoying there,
a really interesting use,
장례식 때 있었던 걸 기억합니다.
something like this happening
뛰어다니지 않았어요.
on the ice in our underpants.
매우 힘들어 하셨어요.
a relative who was being a bit difficult,
just before the whole thing started
that happened in a 1970s sitcom,
어떤 일을 이야기 했어요.
I don't know why I'm doing this,
하고 생각했습니다.
뭔가 생각해 내서
something from somewhere
하겠다는 것이었어요.
together with me.
to find some reason we can do this.
찾을 당연한 반응이었죠.
We're going to get through this.
다 거쳐가는 일이에요.
are doing this all the time.
you don't even notice it.
how often they laugh,
자주 웃는지 과소평가합니다.
when you laugh with people,
무언가 하는 겁니다.
a really ancient evolutionary system
진화 체계에 다가가게 하는 데
to make and maintain social bonds,
사회적 유대감을 만들고 유지하며
to make ourselves feel better.
감정을 조절하는 것입니다.
it's a really ancient behavior
아니라 정말로 오래된 행동으로
and makes us feel better.
더 잘 느끼도록 도와주는 겁니다.
여러분이나 저나 아기나
but mammals. (Laughter)
(웃음)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sophie Scott - Neuroscientist, stand-up comicWhile exploring the neuroscience of speech and vocal behavior, Sophie Scott stumbled upon a surprising second vocation: making audiences laugh as a stand-up comic.
Why you should listen
As deputy director of the University College London’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Sophie Scott seeks out the neurological basis of communication, whether it’s speech or vocalized emotion.
As a pioneering researcher in the science of laughter, she’s made some unexpected discoveries -- including that rats are ticklish, and that the one tactic that’s almost guaranteed to get someone to laugh is to show them someone else laughing. But as an occasional stand-up comedian with UCL’s Bright Club, she shows that she’s no slouch at getting laughs herself.
Sophie Scott | Speaker | TED.com