Laughter - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations
From IELTS Practice Test Plus 2 Academic Listening Test 6 · Part 4 · Questions 31–40
Audio
Questions
Questions 31–40 Note Completion
Complete the notes below.
Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Laughter
The nature of laughter
- laughter is a 31 process - involves movement and sound
- it is controlled by our 32
Reasons for laughter
- only 10% of laughter is caused by jokes / funny stories
- may have begun as sign of 33 after a dangerous situation
- nowadays, may help to develop 34 within a group
- connected to 35 (e.g. use of humour by politicians or bosses)
- may be related to male / female differences (e.g. women laugh more at male speakers)
- may be used in a 36 way to keep someone out of a group
Benefits of laughter
- safe method for the 37 of emotions such as anger and sadness
- provides good aerobic exercise
- leads to drop in levels of stress-related 38
- improves the 39
- can stop 40 and improve sleep
Answers & Explanations Summary
| # | Answer | Evidence | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q31 | physical | Well, when someone laughs you've got movement of the muscles of the face and the chest, and you've got sound formed when the air's forced out of the body as part of this process, so we're talking about a physical activity | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that when you laugh, your muscles move and you make sound, which makes it a physical thing that happens to your body. Answer Explanation: The answer means that laughter is something your body does using muscles and sound, rather than just something happening in your mind. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'physical' because the speaker describes how laughter uses muscles in the face and chest and involves air being pushed out of the body. The speaker explicitly labels these actions as a 'physical activity' and a 'process'. |
| Q32 | instincts | Instead it's regulated by our instincts - rather like the singing of a bird, or the roaring of a lion | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughter is a natural behavior that happens automatically, just like the sounds made by animals. Answer Explanation: The answer 'instincts' refers to natural feelings or behaviors that we have from birth and do not have to learn or think about. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'instincts' because the speaker explains that laughing is not a planned action like speaking. Instead, it happens automatically. The speaker uses the word 'regulated,' which means controlled, to describe how our instincts cause us to laugh, similar to how birds sing or lions roar. |
| Q33 | relief | One suggestion is that human laughter may have originally started out as a shared response to signal relief at the passing of danger | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughter might have first been used as a group signal to show that everyone felt safe and relaxed because a danger was gone. Answer Explanation: The answer 'relief' refers to the good feeling you have when something bad or scary has stopped. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'relief' because the transcript discusses the history of why humans laugh. It suggests that, in the past, laughter began as a way for humans to show others they felt better after a scary or dangerous event was over. The transcript uses the phrase 'passing of danger' which matches the note's 'after a dangerous situation'. |
| Q34 | social bonds / bonds | And it seems likely that laughter can result in the creation of bonds between the people in the group | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughing together can help make people in a group feel closer and more connected to one another. Answer Explanation: The answer "(social) bonds" refers to the feeling of connection, friendship, or togetherness that people develop when they spend time in a group. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is "(social) bonds" because the speaker discusses how laughter functions as a social signal among groups of people. The lecture states that when people are comfortable with each other, laughing together can lead to the "creation of bonds," which means it helps build and strengthen relationships within that group. |
| Q35 | power | But this kind of thing - controlling the laughter of a group, that is - indicates that there's a link between laughter and power, and this is supported by several studies that indicate that bosses use humour more than their employees | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that when people control how a group laughs, it shows there is a connection between laughter and power. It also says that research shows bosses use humor more often than their workers. Answer Explanation: The answer means that laughter is connected to being in control or having a high position of authority. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is "power" because the speaker mentions a "link" (a connection) between laughter and power. This is shown by the fact that people in high positions, such as politicians and bosses, use humor to influence the people they lead or work with. |
| Q36 | negative | I should also point out that laughter can be used as a negative signal as well as a positive one | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughter is not always a good or "positive" thing. Because people sometimes use it to make others feel unwelcome, the speaker describes this behavior as a "negative signal." Answer Explanation: The answer "negative" means that laughter is not always friendly or kind; it can sometimes be used in a bad way to hurt someone's feelings. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is "negative" because the speaker explains that laughter is not always a good thing. They use the phrase "negative signal" to describe how laughter can be used to exclude someone, which means to purposefully keep someone out of a group. Pay attention to the contrast between words like "positive" (good) and "negative" (bad). |
| Q37 | release | laughter provides a harmless way for the release of these emotions | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript says that laughter is a safe (harmless) way to let out (release) feelings (emotions) that a person might be holding onto. Answer Explanation: The answer 'release' means the act of letting out feelings or emotions that have been kept inside. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'release' because the speaker discusses how people often hold onto bad feelings like 'anger' and 'sadness' instead of showing them. The speaker explains that laughter is a 'harmless' (safe) method to let these feelings go. 'Release' is the specific word used in the transcript to describe this process of letting emotions out. |
| Q38 | hormones | It does this by reducing the levels of hormones in the blood which are caused by stress | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughing makes the level of stress-related chemicals in our body go down. Answer Explanation: The answer refers to chemicals inside our bodies that are linked to feeling stressed. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is hormones because the transcript explains that laughter helps reduce stress. It specifically says that laughter works by 'reducing the levels of hormones' that stress creates in our blood. In this context, 'reducing' is a synonym for the 'drop' mentioned in the notes. |
| Q39 | immune system | And, in addition, it is known to increase the levels of chemicals that protect the body from infection or pain and so it helps to boost the immune system | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughter raises the amount of natural chemicals in our bodies that fight germs and pain, and this helps make the immune system stronger. Answer Explanation: The answer is the immune system, which is the part of your body that fights off sickness and stay healthy. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'immune system' because the speaker mentions that laughter increases chemicals in the body that help protect against infection and pain. The speaker specifically uses the word 'boost,' which is a synonym for 'improve,' to describe how laughter affects the immune system. |
| Q40 | bad dreams | In fact, research has even shown that the quality of dreams can be positively affected by laughter - a good laugh 10 minutes before going to sleep can prevent you from having bad dreams and give a much more pleasant and restorative night's sleep | Excerpt/Transcript Explanation: The transcript explains that laughing shortly before bed can stop ('prevent') you from having dreams that are bad and instead helps you have a better night's rest. Answer Explanation: The answer means that laughing can stop people from having scary or unpleasant dreams when they sleep. Reason For Correctness: The correct answer is 'bad dreams' because the speaker mentions that laughing for 10 minutes before bedtime can 'prevent' them. In this context, the word 'prevent' is used as a synonym for 'stop.' By stopping these unpleasant dreams, the quality of rest is improved. |
Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody... and in our second talk on social psychology I want to look at the role of laughter in our lives - something that usually gets everyone smiling from the start.
So, first of all, I'll start by looking at the actual nature of laughter. Well, when someone laughs you've got movement of the muscles of the face and the chest, and you've got sound formed when the air's forced out of the body as part of this process, so we're talking about a physical activity. But obviously other things are involved as well - and this is where it gets more complicated. Laughing isn't something that you normally decide to do, so it's not voluntary behaviour, like ordinary speech. Instead it's regulated by our instincts - rather like the singing of a bird, or the roaring of a lion. And once you start to laugh, it can be quite hard to stop - that's not always under your conscious control either.
But why do we laugh? Because we find something funny, most of us would say. But in fact it appears that laughter has little to do with jokes or funny stories - only about 10 percent of laughter is caused by things like that. One suggestion is that human laughter may have originally started out as a shared response to signal relief at the passing of danger. And it's true that even these days, laughter's rarely an activity carried out by an individual on his or her own. In fact, people are 30 times more likely to laugh when they're with other people than when they're completely alone. Laughter still seems to be a kind of social signal, it occurs when people are in a group and they're comfortable with one another. And it seems likely that laughter can result in the creation of bonds between the people in the group.
And it's precisely because of this social aspect of laughter that people like public speakers and politicians often try to get their audience to laugh - it encourages their listeners to trust them and to connect with them. But this kind of thing - controlling the laughter of a group, that is - indicates that there's a link between laughter and power, and this is supported by several studies that indicate that bosses use humour more than their employees. And research has also shown that female listeners are likely to laugh much more if the speaker is male, so it appears that there are gender issues associated with how much we laugh.
I should also point out that laughter can be used as a negative signal as well as a positive one. I think we've all probably seen evidence of a group using laughter to exclude someone... to emphasise that they are not accepted. So it's not always a positive type of behaviour, either. So what all this goes to show is that laughter is a very, very complex issue.
It does appear however that laughter has definite benefits. If we look first at the psychological aspects, we know that people often tend to store negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them, and it seems that laughter provides a harmless way for the release of these emotions. But there are also clear physical effects that have been monitored too. For example, laughter is good aerobic exercise – it speeds up heart rate and respiration, and raises blood pressure; one researcher suggests that 100 laughs a day is the equivalent of 10 minutes' jogging.
Laughter also helps prevent the stress that so many people suffer from today, which results from the faster pace of life and all that goes with it. It does this by reducing the levels of hormones in the blood which are caused by stress. And, in addition, it is known to increase the levels of chemicals that protect the body from infection or pain and so it helps to boost the immune system. One interesting study showed that people who had had surgical operations asked for fewer pain killers if they'd been viewing comic films. In fact, research has even shown that the quality of dreams can be positively affected by laughter - a good laugh 10 minutes before going to sleep can prevent you from having bad dreams and give a much more pleasant and restorative night's sleep. So, there's now little argument that finding things funny and enjoying a good laugh is extremely beneficial to us all.
What we need to consider now are the ways in which laughter can be used as a treatment for people who