When was the last time you laughed? Seriously, think about it.
New research suggests people tend to start losing their sense of humour at the age of 23.
In a study conducted by two business school academics from Stanford University in California, it was revealed that the frequency at which people laugh or smile every day begins to plummet when they reach the age of 23, as reported by Independent.
The findings of the study have since been published in the book called “Humour, Seriously” written by Jennifer Aaker, a psychology professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Naomi Bagdonas, a lecturer at the university.
In the book, Aaker and Bagdonas outline the findings from a survey that was done, involving 1.4 million people from 166 different countries that measured how many times they laughed or smiled a day.
The results showed that the average age at which people began to smile and laugh less was at the age of 23-years-old. This got them to believe that entering the world of work must be the cause of the lessen smiles and laughs.
“We grow up, enter the workforce and suddenly become ‘serious and important people’, trading laughter for ties and pantsuits,” the author said, as reported by The Times.
Aaker and Bagdonas, who are professors specialising in teaching students how to use humour to their advantage in the workplace, claim that the issue is that humour is “under-leveraged” in the working world. But, if used correctly, it can become a corporate “superpower”.
Their research also found that the average four-year-old laughs up to 300 times per day, while the average 40-year-old laughs 300 times over the course of 10 weeks.
“Even if you’re not comfortable being funny yourself, as long as you understand the value of humour at work, you can benefit from it.”
What are your thoughts on this study? Let us know in the comment section below!
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