Why we laugh | Sophie Scott

Sophie Scott: ¿Por qué reímos?

Traductor: Sebastian Betti Revisor: Lidia Cámara de la Fuente

Hi. I'm going to talk to you today about laughter,

Hola, hoy hablaré de la risa

and I just want to start by thinking about the first time

y quiero empezar reflexionando sobre la primera vez

I can ever remember noticing laughter.

que recuerdo haber descubierto la risa.

This is when I was a little girl. I would've been about six.

Fue de niña, tendría unos 6 años.

And I came across my parents doing something unusual,

Encontré a mis padres haciendo algo inusual,

where they were laughing.

estaban riéndose.

They were laughing very, very hard.

Se reían mucho, mucho.

They were lying on the floor laughing.

Estaban tumbados en el suelo riéndose.

They were screaming with laughter.

Estaban llorando de risa.

I did not know what they were laughing at, but I wanted in.

Yo no sabía de qué se reían, pero quería participar.

I wanted to be part of that,

Quería ser parte de eso,

and I kind of sat around at the edge going, "Hoo hoo!" (Laughter)

y me senté en el borde y dije: "¡Juu, juu!" (Risas)

Now, incidentally, what they were laughing at

Por cierto, se reían

was a song which people used to sing,

de una canción que la gente solía cantar,

which was based around signs in toilets on trains

sobre las señales de los baños de los trenes

telling you what you could and could not do

que explicaba qué se podía y qué no se podía hacer

in toilets on trains.

en los baños en los trenes.

And the thing you have to remember about the English is, of course,

Y algo que se debe recordar de los ingleses, claro,

we do have an immensely sophisticated sense of humor.

es que tenemos un inmenso y sofisticado sentido del humor.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

At the time, though, I didn't understand anything of that.

En ese momento, sin embargo, no entendía nada de eso.

I just cared about the laughter,

Solo me importaba la risa,

and actually, as a neuroscientist, I've come to care about it again.

y, de hecho, como neuróloga, me interesa de nuevo.

And it is a really weird thing to do.

Y es algo muy raro.

What I'm going to do now is just play some examples

Ahora pondré algunos ejemplos

of real human beings laughing,

de humanos reales riendo,

and I want you think about the sound people make and how odd that can be,

y quiero que piensen en el sonido que hace la gente y lo extraño que puede ser

and in fact how primitive laughter is as a sound.

y lo primitiva que es la risa como sonido.

It's much more like an animal call than it is like speech.

Se parece más a un sonido animal que al habla.

So here we've got some laughter for you. The first one is pretty joyful.

Tengo aquí algunas risas. La primera es bastante alegre.

(Audio: Laughing)

(Audio: Risas)

Now this next guy, I need him to breathe.

Y este tipo, quiero que respire.

There's a point in there where I'm just, like,

Llega un punto en el que digo

you've got to get some air in there, mate,

tienes que respirar, hombre,

because he just sounds like he's breathing out.

porque suena como si solo expirase.

(Audio: Laughing)

(Audio: Risas)

This hasn't been edited; this is him.

No fue editado; así es él.

(Audio: Laughing) (Laughter)

(Audio: Risas) (Risas)

And finally we have -- this is a human female laughing.

Y finalmente, esta es una risa femenina.

And laughter can take us to some pretty odd places in terms of making noises.

La risa puede llevarnos a lugares extraños en materia de ruidos.

(Audio: Laughing)

(Audio: Risas)

She actually says, "Oh my God, what is that?" in French.

Ella en realidad dice: "Oh, Dios mío, ¿qué es eso?" en francés.

We're all kind of with her. I have no idea.

Nos dejamos llevar por ella. No tengo idea.

Now, to understand laughter, you have to look at a part of the body

Pero para entender la risa, hay que mirar una parte del cuerpo

that psychologists and neuroscientists don't normally spend much time looking at,

que ni psicólogos, ni neurocientíficos suelen observar demasiado:

which is the ribcage,

la caja torácica.

and it doesn't seem terribly exciting,

Y no parece muy emocionante,

but actually you're all using your ribcage all the time.

pero la usamos todo el tiempo.

What you're all doing at the moment with your ribcage,

Algo que todos hacemos ahora con la caja torácica,

and don't stop doing it, is breathing.

y sin parar, es respirar.

So you use the intercostal muscles, the muscles between your ribs,

Los músculos intercostales, entre las costillas los usamos

to bring air in and out of your lungs

para inspirar y expirar aire de los pulmones

just by expanding and contracting your ribcage,

simplemente expandiendo y contrayendo la caja torácica

and if I was to put a strap around the outside of your chest

y si pusiera una correa alrededor del pecho,

called a breath belt, and just look at that movement,

un cinturón de aliento, con solo mirar ese movimiento

you see a rather gentle sinusoidal movement, so that's breathing.

veríamos un movimiento sinusoidal apacible, conforme respiramos.

You're all doing it. Don't stop.

Todos lo hacemos, todo el tiempo.

As soon as you start talking,

En cuanto empezamos a hablar,

you start using your breathing completely differently.

usamos la respiración de modo totalmente diferente.

So what I'm doing now is you see something much more like this.

Ahora ven que hago algo como esto.

In talking, you use very fine movements of the ribcage

Al hablar, usamos movimientos muy finos de la caja torácica

to squeeze the air out --

para expulsar el aire...

and in fact, we're the only animals that can do this.

y, somos los únicos animales capaces de hacerlo.

It's why we can talk at all.

Por eso podemos hablar.

Now, both talking and breathing has a mortal enemy,

Pero tanto el hablar como el respirar tienen un enemigo mortal,

and that enemy is laughter,

y ese enemigo es la risa.

because what happens when you laugh

Porque cuando reímos

is those same muscles start to contract very regularly,

esos mismos músculos empiezan a contraerse con mucha regularidad

and you get this very marked sort of zig-zagging,

y tenemos este zigzag muy pronunciado

and that's just squeezing the air out of you.

que expulsa el aire.

It literally is that basic a way of making a sound.

Es una forma muy elemental de producir un sonido.

You could be stamping on somebody, it's having the same effect.

Pisotear a alguien, tendría el mismo efecto.

You're just squeezing air out,

Expiramos aire,

and each of those contractions -- Ha! -- gives you a sound.

y cada una de esas contracciones... ¡Ja! Produce un sonido.

And as the contractions run together, you can get these spasms,

Si estas contracciones ocurren juntas, se dan estos espasmos,

and that's when you start getting these -- (Wheezing) -- things happening.

y empiezan a ocurrir estos (Respira con dificultad)

I'm brilliant at this. (Laughter)

Soy brillante en esto. (Risas)

Now, in terms of the science of laughter, there isn't very much,

En relación de la ciencia de la risa, no es mucho,

but it does turn out that pretty much everything we think we know

pero resulta que casi todo lo que sabemos

about laughter is wrong.

de la risa está equivocado.

So it's not at all unusual, for example, to hear people to say

No es del todo inusual, por ejemplo, escuchar a la gente decir

humans are the only animals that laugh.

que los humanos somos los únicos animales que reímos.

Nietzsche thought that humans are the only animals that laugh.

Nietzsche pensaba que los humanos éramos los únicos animales que ríen.

In fact, you find laughter throughout the mammals.

De hecho, existe la risa en los mamíferos.

It's been well-described and well-observed in primates,

Ha sido bien descrita y observada en primates,

but you also see it in rats,

pero también en ratas,

and wherever you find it --

y dondequiera que la veamos

humans, primates, rats --

-- humanos, primates, ratas --

you find it associated with things like tickling.

la asociamos a cosas como las cosquillas.

That's the same for humans.

Es lo mismo en los humanos.

You find it associated with play, and all mammals play.

Se la asocia con el juego, y todos los mamíferos juegan.

And wherever you find it, it's associated with interactions.

Siempre que se la encuentra, se la asocia con las interacciones.

So Robert Provine, who has done a lot of work on this,

Robert Provine, que investigó mucho este tema,

has pointed out that you are 30 times more likely to laugh

señaló que somos 30 veces más propensos a reír

if you are with somebody else than if you're on your own,

si estamos con compañía que si estamos solos,

and where you find most laughter

y que la risa está más presente

is in social interactions like conversation.

en interacciones sociales como la conversación.

So if you ask human beings, "When do you laugh?"

Si le preguntamos a alguien: "¿Cuándo ríes?"

they'll talk about comedy and they'll talk about humor and they'll talk about jokes.

Dirán con una comedia, con el humor, con los chistes.

If you look at when they laugh, they're laughing with their friends.

Si observamos cuándo ríen, ríen con sus amigos.

And when we laugh with people, we're hardly ever actually laughing at jokes.

Y si nos reímos con las personas, difícilmente sea de chistes.

You are laughing to show people that you understand them,

Nos reímos para mostrar a las personas que uno las entiende,

that you agree with them, that you're part of the same group as them.

que está de acuerdo con ellas, que uno es parte del grupo.

You're laughing to show that you like them.

Nos reímos para mostrar que a uno le agradan.

You might even love them.

Uno quizá los ame.

You're doing all that at the same time as talking to them,

Uno hace todo eso mientras les habla,

and the laughter is doing a lot of that emotional work for you.

y la risa expresa todas esas emociones por uno.

Something that Robert Provine has pointed out, as you can see here,

Es algo que señaló Robert Provine, como pueden ver aquí,

and the reason why we were laughing

y es la razón por la cual reímos

when we heard those funny laughs at the start,

al escuchar esas risas graciosas al principio,

and why I was laughing when I found my parents laughing,

y por la que yo reí al descubrir a mis padres riendo,

is that it's an enormously behaviorally contagious effect.

y ese es un enorme efecto de comportamiento contagioso.

You can catch laughter from somebody else,

Uno puede contagiarse la risa de otro,

and you are more likely to catch laughter off somebody else if you know them.

y es más probable contagiarse la risa si ese otro es alguien conocido.

So it's still modulated by this social context.

Por eso todavía es modulada por este contexto social.

You have to put humor to one side

Añadamos humor en un lado

and think about the social meaning of laughter

y pensemos en el sentido social de la risa

because that's where its origins lie.

porque allí yace su origen.

Now, something I've got very interested in is different kinds of laughter,

Me interesan mucho los distintos tipos de risas

and we have some neurobiological evidence about how human beings vocalize

y tenemos evidencias neurobiológicas de cómo vocalizamos los humanos

that suggests there might be two kinds of laughs that we have.

que sugieren que podríamos tener 2 tipos de risas.

So it seems possible that the neurobiology for helpless, involuntary laughter,

Parece posible que la neurobiología de la risa involuntaria e inevitable,

like my parents lying on the floor screaming about a silly song,

como la de mis padres en el suelo riendo por una canción tonta,

might have a different basis to it than some of that more polite

podría tener una base distinta que la risa social más educada

social laughter that you encounter, which isn't horrible laughter,

que encontramos, y no es una risa horrible,

but it's behavior somebody is doing as part of their communicative act to you,

sino que responde al comportamiento de alguien que se comunica con uno,

part of their interaction with you; they are choosing to do this.

es parte de su interacción con uno; eligen hacer eso.

In our evolution, we have developed two different ways of vocalizing.

En la evolución, hemos desarrollado dos maneras distintas de vocalizar.

Involuntary vocalizations are part of an older system

Las vocalizaciones involuntarias son parte de un sistema más antiguo

than the more voluntary vocalizations like the speech I'm doing now.

que las vocalizaciones más voluntarias como esta charla que doy ahora.

So we might imagine that laughter might actually have two different roots.

Podemos imaginar que la risa tiene dos raíces distintas.

So I've been looking at this in more detail.

He estudiado esto en más detalle.

To do this, we've had to make recordings of people laughing,

Para esto, he grabado a las personas riendo,

and we've had to do whatever it takes to make people laugh,

y hemos hecho de todo para que se rían,

and we got those same people to produce more posed, social laughter.

y hemos hecho que esas mismas personas produzcan una risa social más forzada.

So imagine your friend told a joke,

Imaginen que un amigo les cuenta un chiste,

and you're laughing because you like your friend,

y Uds. se ríen porque aprecian a su amigo

but not really because the joke's all that.

pero no por el chiste.

So I'm going to play you a couple of those.

Les pondré un par de esas risas.

I want you to tell me if you think this laughter is real laughter,

Quiero que me digan si son risas reales,

or if you think it's posed.

o si piensan que son forzadas.

So is this involuntary laughter or more voluntary laughter?

Estas risas ¿son involuntarias o más voluntarias?

(Audio: Laughing)

(Audio: Risas)

What does that sound like to you?

¿Qué les parece ese sonido?

Audience: Posed. Sophie Scott: Posed? Posed.

Público: Forzada. Sophie Scott: ¿Forzada? Forzada.

How about this one?

¿Y este sonido?

(Audio: Laughing)

(Audio: Risas)

(Laughter)

(Risas)

I'm the best.

Soy la mejor.

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Risas) (Aplausos)

Not really.

En realidad no.

No, that was helpless laughter,

No, esa era una risa inevitable,

and in fact, to record that, all they had to do was record me

y, de hecho, para grabarla solo tuvieron que grabarme

watching one of my friends listening to something I knew she wanted to laugh at,

viendo a una de mis amigas escuchar algo que sabía le haría gracia,

and I just started doing this.

y empecé a hacer esto.

What you find is that people are good at telling the difference

Podemos ver que somos buenos para notar la diferencia

between real and posed laughter.

entre la risa real y la forzada.

They seem to be different things to us.

Nos parecen cosas diferentes.

Interestingly, you see something quite similar with chimpanzees.

Curiosamente, vemos algo bastante similar en los chimpancés.

Chimpanzees laugh differently if they're being tickled

Los chimpancés ríen diferente si les hacen cosquillas

than if they're playing with each other,

que si se ríen jugando unos con otros,

and we might be seeing something like that here,

y puede que veamos algo así aquí,

involuntary laughter, tickling laughter, being different from social laughter.

la risa involuntaria, la de cosquillas, es diferente de la risa social.

They're acoustically very different.

Acústicamente son muy diferentes.

The real laughs are longer. They're higher in pitch.

Las risas reales son más prolongadas. Son más agudas.

When you start laughing hard,

Cuando empiezas a reír con fuerza,

you start squeezing air out from your lungs

empiezas a expulsar aire de los pulmones

under much higher pressures than you could ever produce voluntarily.

con mucha más fuerza de la que ejercemos voluntariamente.

For example, I could never pitch my voice that high to sing.

Por ejemplo, yo no podría cantar con una voz tan alta.

Also, you start to get these sort of contractions and weird whistling sounds,

Además, empezamos a hacer contracciones y silbidos extraños,

all of which mean that real laughter is extremely easy,

lo que implica que la risa verdadera es muy fácil,

or feels extremely easy to spot.

podemos detectarla fácilmente.

In contrast, posed laughter, we might think it sounds a bit fake.

Por el contrario, la riza forzada, podríamos pensar que suena un poco falsa.

Actually, it's not, it's actually an important social cue.

En realidad no lo es, es una señal social importante.

We use it a lot, we're choosing to laugh in a lot of situations,

La usamos mucho, elegimos reír en muchas situaciones,

and it seems to be its own thing.

y parece tener entidad propia.

So, for example, you find nasality in posed laughter,

Por ejemplo, observamos nasalidad en la risa forzada,

that kind of "ha ha ha ha ha" sound

ese sonido tipo "ja, ja, ja, ja, ja"

that you never get, you could not do, if you were laughing involuntarily.

un sonido que no podríamos hacer con la risa involuntaria.

So they do seem to be genuinely these two different sorts of things.

Por lo que parecen ser genuinamente dos tipos de risas diferentes.

We took it into the scanner to see how brains respond

Las llevamos al escáner para ver cómo responde el cerebro

when you hear laughter.

al escuchar las risas.

And when you do this, this is a really boring experiment.

Hacer esto es un experimento realmente aburrido.

We just played people real and posed laughs.

Le pusimos a las personas risas reales y forzadas.

We didn't tell them it was a study on laughter.

No les dijimos que era un estudio sobre la risa.

We put other sounds in there to distract them,

Les pusimos otros sonidos para distraerlos;

and all they're doing is lying listening to sounds.

todos están allí oyendo sonidos.

We don't tell them to do anything.

No les pedimos que hagan nada.

Nonetheless, when you hear real laughter and when you hear posed laughter,

Sin embargo, al oír risas reales y risas forzadas

the brains are responding completely differently,

el cerebro responde de forma totalmente diferente

significantly differently.

significativamente diferente.

What you see in the regions in blue, which lies in auditory cortex,

Lo que ven en las zonas de azul, que cae en la corteza auditiva,

are the brain areas that respond more to the real laughs,

son las zonas del cerebro que responden más a la risa real,

and what seems to be the case,

que parece ser el caso

when you hear somebody laughing involuntarily,

al oír a alguien reír involuntariamente,

you hear sounds you would never hear in any other context.

uno oye sonidos que nunca oiría en otro contexto.

It's very unambiguous,

Es muy nítido

and it seems to be associated with greater auditory processing

y parece estar asociado a un mayor procesamiento auditivo

of these novel sounds.

de estos nuevos sonidos.

In contrast, when you hear somebody laughing in a posed way,

Por el contrario, al oír a alguien riendo de manera forzada,

what you see are these regions in pink,

se observan estas zonas en rosa,

which are occupying brain areas associated with mentalizing,

que ocupan zonas del cerebro asociadas a la mentalización,

thinking about what somebody else is thinking.

a pensar en lo que otra persona está pensando.

And I think what that means is,

Y pienso que eso significa

even if you're having your brain scanned, which is completely boring

que incluso si nos escanean el cerebro, algo totalmente aburrido,

and not very interesting,

algo no muy interesante,

when you hear somebody going, "A ha ha ha ha ha,"

al oír a alguien haciendo "Ja, ja, ja, ja, ja, ja",

you're trying to work out why they're laughing.

uno se pregunta por qué se ríe.

Laughter is always meaningful.

La risa siempre tiene significado.

You are always trying to understand it in context,

Siempre tratamos de entenderla en contexto,

even if, as far as you are concerned, at that point in time,

incluso si, en lo que a uno respecta, en ese momento,

it has not necessarily anything to do with you,

no tiene necesariamente nada que ver con uno,

you still want to know why those people are laughing.

siempre querremos saber por qué la gente se ríe.

Now, we've had the opportunity to look at how people hear real and posed laughter

También hemos podido observar cómo las personas oyen risas reales y forzadas

across the age range.

en todo el rango de edad.

So this is an online experiment we ran with the Royal Society,

Este es un experimento en línea que hicimos con la Royal Society,

and here we just asked people two questions.

donde hicimos 2 preguntas.

First of all, they heard some laughs,

Primero, oyeron algunas risas,

and they had to say, how real or posed do these laughs sound?

y tuvieron que decir cuán reales o forzadas sonaban esas risas.

The real laughs are shown in red and the posed laughs are shown in blue.

Las risas reales aparecen en rojo y las forzadas en azul.

What you see is there is a rapid onset.

Se ve que hay un inicio rápido.

As you get older, you get better and better at spotting real laughter.

Conforme envejecemos, hay una mejor detección de la risa real.

So six-year-olds are at chance, they can't really hear the difference.

Los niños de 6 años ríen al azar, no pueden oír la diferencia.

By the time you are older, you get better,

Conforme envejecemos, mejoramos,

but interestingly, you do not hit peak performance in this dataset

pero, curiosamente, no llegamos al máximo rendimiento

until you are in your late 30s and early 40s.

hasta finales de los 30, principios de los 40.

You don't understand laughter fully by the time you hit puberty.

Uno no entiende plenamente la risa en la pubertad.

You don't understand laughter fully by the time your brain has matured

Uno no entiende plenamente la risa cuando el cerebro ha madurado

at the end of your teens.

al final de la pubertad.

You're learning about laughter throughout your entire early adult life.

Aprendemos sobre la risa durante toda la vida temprana de adulto.

If we turn the question around and now say not, what does the laughter sound like

Si cambiamos la pregunta y en vez de decir cómo suena la risa

in terms of being real or posed, but we say,

en términos de real o forzada, y en cambio decimos

how much does this laughter make you want to laugh,

cuántas ganas de reír te da esta risa,

how contagious is this laughter to you, we see a different profile.

cuán contagiosa te resulta esta risa, vemos un perfil diferente.

And here, the younger you are,

Aquí, cuando más joven es uno,

the more you want to join in when you hear laughter.

más quiere sumarse a la risa.

Remember me laughing with my parents when I had no idea what was going on.

Recuerden mi risa con mis padres cuando no tenía idea de qué pasaba.

You really can see this.

Realmente pueden ver esto.

Now everybody, young and old,

Todos, jóvenes y ancianos,

finds the real laughs more contagious than the posed laughs,

encuentran la risa real más contagiosa que la risa forzada,

but as you get older, it all becomes less contagious to you.

pero conforme envejecemos, todo se vuelve menos contagioso.

Now, either we're all just becoming really grumpy as we get older,

O perdemos el humor con los años,

or it may mean that as you understand laughter better,

o entendemos mejor la risa,

and you are getting better at doing that,

y nos volvemos tan buenos en eso,

you need more than just hearing people laugh to want to laugh.

que necesitamos más que oír una risa para querer reír.

You need the social stuff there.

Necesitamos el aspecto social.

So we've got a very interesting behavior

Tenemos un comportamiento muy interesante

about which a lot of our lay assumptions are incorrect,

sobre el cual tenemos muchas presunciones incorrectas,

but I'm coming to see that actually there's even more to laughter

pero encuentro que la risa es mucho más

than it's an important social emotion we should look at,

que una emoción social importante que deberíamos observar

because it turns out people are phenomenally nuanced

porque resulta que las personas expresan muchos matices

in terms of how we use laughter.

en el uso de la risa.

There's a really lovely set of studies coming out

Hay unos estudios encantadores

from Robert Levenson's lab in California,

de Robert Levenson en California,

where he's doing a longitudinal study with couples.

son estudios longitudinales con parejas.

He gets married couples, men and women, into the lab,

Él lleva parejas casadas, hombres y mujeres, al laboratorio

and he gives them stressful conversations to have

y les da conversaciones estresantes

while he wires them up to a polygraph so he can see them becoming stressed.

y les coloca un polígrafo para verlos estresarse.

So you've got the two of them in there, and he'll say to the husband,

Tiene allí a los dos y le dice al marido:

"Tell me something that your wife does that irritates you."

"Cuéntame algo que haga tu mujer que a ti te irrite".

And what you see is immediately --

Y se observa de inmediato...

just run that one through your head briefly, you and your partner --

--imaginen eso un instante, Uds. y su pareja--

you can imagine everybody gets a bit more stressed as soon as that starts.

es de suponer que todo se pone más tenso cuando esto empieza.

You can see physically, people become more stressed.

Se ven reacciones físicas, las personas se tensan.

What he finds is that the couples who manage that feeling of stress

Él encuentra que las parejas que manejan esa tensión

with laughter, positive emotions like laughter,

con risa, con emociones positivas como la risa,

not only immediately become less stressed,

no solo están menos tensas de inmediato,

they can see them physically feeling better,

sino que puede verse que físicamente se sienten mejor,

they're dealing with this unpleasant situation better together,

y enfrentan mejor esta situación desagradable, juntos,

they are also the couples that report

son también las parejas que tienen

high levels of satisfaction in their relationship

altos niveles de satisfacción en sus relaciones

and they stay together for longer.

y permanecen juntos más tiempo.

So in fact, when you look at close relationships,

De hecho, al estudiar relaciones cercanas

laughter is a phenomenally useful index

la risa es un índice extraordinariamente útil

of how people are regulating their emotions together.

de cómo las personas regulan sus emociones juntas.

We're not just emitting it at each other to show that we like each other,

No solo la emitimos unos a otros para mostrar aprecio mutuo,

we're making ourselves feel better together.

sino que buscamos sentirnos mejor juntos.

Now, I don't think this is going to be limited to romantic relationships.

No creo que esto se limite a las relaciones románticas.

I think this is probably going to be a characteristic

Creo que quizá es una característica

of close emotional relationships such as you might have with friends,

de las relaciones afectivas cercanas como las amistades

which explains my next clip,

que explican mi próximo clip,

which is of a YouTube video of some young men in the former East Germany

un video de YouTube de unos jóvenes de la antigua Alemania del Este

on making a video to promote their heavy metal band,

que hacían un video para promocionar su banda de heavy metal.

and it's extremely macho, and the mood is very serious,

Es muy machista y el ambiente es muy serio.

and I want you to notice what happens in terms of laughter

Y quiero que noten qué ocurre en materia de risas

when things go wrong

cuando algo sale mal,

and how quickly that happens, and how that changes the mood.

lo rápido que sucede, y cómo cambia el humor.

He's cold. He's about to get wet. He's got swimming trunks on,

Tiene frío. Está a punto de mojarse. Tiene el traje de baño,

got a towel.

tiene una toalla.

Ice.

Hay hielo.

What might possibly happen?

¿Qué podría pasar?

Video starts.

Empieza el video.

Serious mood.

Seriedad.

And his friends are already laughing. They are already laughing, hard.

Sus amigos ya se están riendo. Se ríen con ganas.

He's not laughing yet.

Todavía no ríe.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

He's starting to go now.

Empieza a reírse.

And now they're all off.

Y ahora que están todos riendo.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

They're on the floor.

Están en el suelo.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

The thing I really like about that is it's all very serious

Lo que me gusta de esto es que todo es muy serio

until he jumps onto the ice, and as soon as he doesn't go through the ice,

hasta que salta al hielo y tan pronto como no atraviesa el hielo

but also there isn't blood and bone everywhere,

pero tampoco hay sangre ni huesos por todas partes,

his friends start laughing.

sus amigos empiezan a reír.

And imagine if that had played him out with him standing there going,

Imaginen si ocurriera eso con él allí diciendo:

"No seriously, Heinrich, I think this is broken,"

"No, en serio, Heinrich, creo que me rompí algo",

we wouldn't enjoy watching that. That would be stressful.

no disfrutaríamos al verlo. Nos pondría tensos.

Or if he was running around with a visibly broken leg laughing,

Tampoco si corriese por allí riendo con una fractura expuesta,

and his friends are going, "Heinrich, I think we need to go to the hospital now,"

y sus amigos dijeran: "Heinrich, creo que tenemos que ir al hospital ahora",

that also wouldn't be funny.

eso tampoco sería gracioso.

The fact that the laughter works,

La risa funciona porque

it gets him from a painful, embarrassing, difficult situation,

lo saca de una situación dolorosa, embarazosa y difícil

into a funny situation, into what we're actually enjoying there,

y lo pone en una situación graciosa que disfrutamos

and I think that's a really interesting use,

y creo que es un uso muy interesante

and it's actually happening all the time.

que ocurre todo el tiempo.

For example, I can remember something like this happening

Por ejemplo, recuerdo que pasó algo así

at my father's funeral.

en el funeral de mi padre.

We weren't jumping around on the ice in our underpants.

No estábamos saltando en el hielo en calzoncillos.

We're not Canadian.

No somos canadienses.

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Risas) (Aplausos)

These events are always difficult, I had a relative who was being a bit difficult,

Son eventos siempre difíciles, tenía un pariente un poco difícil,

my mum was not in a good place,

mi madre no estaba en un buen lugar,

and I can remember finding myself just before the whole thing started

y recuerdo encontrarme justo antes de que todo empezara

telling this story about something that happened in a 1970s sitcom,

contando la historia de algo ocurrido en una comedia de 1970,

and I just thought at the time, I don't know why I'm doing this,

y pensé en ese momento, no sé por qué estoy haciendo esto,

and what I realized I was doing

y me di cuenta de que

was I was coming up with something from somewhere

sacaba algo de algún sitio

I could use to make her laugh together with me.

que podía usar para hacerla reír conmigo.

It was a very basic reaction to find some reason we can do this.

Fue una reacción muy básica encontrar alguna razón para hacerlo.

We can laugh together. We're going to get through this.

Podemos reír juntas. Vamos a superar esto.

We're going to be okay.

Vamos a estar bien.

And in fact, all of us are doing this all the time.

De hecho, todos nosotros lo hacemos todo el tiempo.

You do it so often, you don't even notice it.

Lo hacemos tan a menudo, que no lo notamos.

Everybody underestimates how often they laugh,

Todos subestimamos todo lo que reímos

and you're doing something, when you laugh with people,

y hacemos algo al reír con la gente,

that's actually letting you access a really ancient evolutionary system

nos permite acceder a un sistema evolutivo muy antiguo

that mammals have evolved to make and maintain social bonds,

que los mamíferos hemos evolucionado para crear y mantener vínculos sociales

and clearly to regulate emotions, to make ourselves feel better.

claramente para regular emociones, que nos hagan sentir mejor.

It's not something specific to humans -- it's a really ancient behavior

No es algo específico de los humanos; es un comportamiento muy antiguo

which really helps us regulate how we feel and makes us feel better.

que nos ayuda a regular cómo nos sentimos y nos hace sentir mejor.

In other words, when it comes to laughter,

En otras palabras, en materia de risas,

you and me, baby, ain't nothing but mammals. (Laughter)

tú y yo, bebé, no somos más que mamíferos.

Thank you.

Gracias.

(Aplausos)

Thank you. (Applause)