Serious Tickling Not Producing Laughter?

[anubis111]

So i recently had an interesting conversation with someone. In my opinion, and from what i've noticed over the years, the majority of (ticklish) people when tickled will at some point be forced to laugh and smile. Now i understand that not EVERYONE has that reaction and there are some people who just scream or appear as they are in pain, but the most common reaction is laughing and smiling.

This other person's opinion is that the only reason anyone laughs when tickled is because they are enjoying it and choose to laugh. So basically laughter is never forced, its a decision the person makes and allows to happen. They said they've watched countless tickle videos and tickled a bunch of people themselves and no one that ended up laughing was forced to, it was their decision to laugh.

What are your thoughts? Is laughter from tickling strictly voluntary? Or is it something that can't be helped?

 

[C4urself85]

This implies the lee is the one in control. I don't buy that for a second. Laughing while being tickled is a physiological response to external stimuli. It's not the only response, just as you stated, but it is the most common.

 

[TMF Jeff]

I've heard plenty of people, on various social media, complain that they hate being tickled and in particular that they hate that it forces them to smile and laugh as if they like it.

 

[quinn65]

I'd say it covers the gamut:

- A few aren't ticklish at all and would have to fake any reaction;
- Some can turn it off and on at will, so the reaction -- if allowed -- is real but can be contained;
- Most can't help reacting in some way, but the degree of reaction can be anywhere from squirming to laughing to screaming.

 

[anubis111]

Do you think situation might have something to do with it as well? Like if a person is feeling distressed or getting humiliated, would tickling still produce smiling and laughter? Or do you think intense situations negate that and just lead to the person looking MORE unhappy?

 

[Tickaler]

Honestly sounds like the person with whom you had the conversation is projecting their fantasy of lee reactions onto their reality of understanding why people laugh when tickled. Their claim of tickling a bunch of people also sounds like bullshit, because if they had, they'd know their opinion is likewise bullshit.

 

[Jezebel Lee]

Honestly sounds like the person with whom you had the conversation is projecting their fantasy of lee reactions onto their reality of understanding why people laugh when tickled. Their claim of tickling a bunch of people also sounds like bullshit, because if they had, they'd know their opinion is likewise bullshit.

Agreed. It’s been scientifically proven that laughter is involuntary. Sounds like wishful thinking on the other person’s part.

 

[SoleMates]

Laughter is a stress response. The reason we laugh at comedy is generally due to surprise and/or subverted expectations and shock. It's also been posited by researchers that smiling is a similar expression of submission to that of apes, who bare their teeth to show that they mean no threat (or pose a threat, I'd say either one is relevant when someone's poking your tender bits).

So yes, since tickling involves having sensitive (and often physically vulnerable, and I don't mean in the dorky keyword-phrasey way people in this community use it, I mean actually vulnerable) parts of the body touched, it's going to trigger involuntary protective responses and stress reactions, as well as potential submissive reactions to the one doing it.

In other words, the person you were talking to has no idea what they're talking about.