What is the Evolutionary Purpose of Tickling?

Science • December 2010 • Views: 2,013

Interesting stuff.

You probably know that you can’t tickle yourself. And although you might be able to tickle a total stranger, your brain also strongly discourages you from doing something so socially awkward. These facts offer insight into tickling’s evolutionary purpose, says Robert R. Provine, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland and the author of the book Laughter: A Scientific Investigation. Tickling, he says, is partly a mechanism for social bonding between close companions and helps forge relationships between family members and friends.

[…]

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8 comments

reine.de.tout Wed, Dec 22, 2010 1:22:30pm

Great article, just one thing . . .

I'm so ticklish, I can indeed tickle myself (bottom of my feet - you ought to see me trying to get a pedicure! That's one thing that's never on my wishlist!).

What, me worry? Wed, Dec 22, 2010 1:27:30pm

My mother was always under the belief that tickling is a form of torture. She never let my brother or I be tickled by other family members (or each other) if she could help it.

[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]

Tickle torture is the use of tickling to abuse, dominate, humiliate or even "prank" someone. The victim laughs even if he or she finds the experience unpleasant because the laughter is an innate reflex rather than social conditioning.

It doesn't really mention it in the article otherwise to say "the fun stops" at a certain age, but I never thought it was much fun to begin with.

reine.de.tout Wed, Dec 22, 2010 1:32:52pm

re: #2 marjoriemoon

MM - I heard the same thing. My own experience - if it goes TOO FAR, it does become torturous. The trick is to find the balance.

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Wed, Dec 22, 2010 1:39:49pm

The last time I endured any kind of tickle torture is when I let my girlfriend tie me to the bed and...

Hmm... maybe I'll save that story for when the kids are out of the room.
/:P

CuriousLurker Wed, Dec 22, 2010 2:59:54pm

re: #1 reine.de.tout

I'm so ticklish, I can indeed tickle myself (bottom of my feet - you ought to see me trying to get a pedicure! That's one thing that's never on my wishlist!).

I'm super ticklish too, but I don't remember ever being able to tickle myself. I've never gotten a pedicure—there's no way I could stand it!

My son is so ticklish on the back of his neck that he stopped trying to get haircuts that involved anyone touching the area with with hands or scissors/shavers. Now he just keeps his hair in a ponytail or braid.

re: #2 marjoriemoon

My mother was always under the belief that tickling is a form of torture. She never let my brother or I be tickled by other family members (or each other) if she could help it.

[Link: en.wikipedia.org...]

It doesn't really mention it in the article otherwise to say "the fun stops" at a certain age, but I never thought it was much fun to begin with.

I hear you. I HATE being tickled because I'm so sensitive to it. Anything more than a few brief seconds does indeed begin to feel like torture.

re: #4 Slumbering Behemoth

The last time I endured any kind of tickle torture is when I let my girlfriend tie me to the bed and...

Hmm... maybe I'll save that story for when the kids are out of the room.
/:P

*sighs, smacks SB with rolled up newspaper* Sheesh, I can't take you anywhere.
/;o)

What, me worry? Wed, Dec 22, 2010 4:18:22pm

re: #5 CuriousLurker

My son is so ticklish on the back of his neck that he stopped trying to get haircuts that involved anyone touching the area with with hands or scissors/shavers. Now he just keeps his hair in a ponytail or braid.

See, he doesn't like it!

I guess you can't really tickle yourself because once it would start to feel bad, then you'd stop immediately.

I'm still at a loss to understand how tickling creates bonding. I think it's more the "idea" of tickling that's more fun than the actual tickling. The threat of tickling, "I'm gonna get ya!" is what gets kids or babies going, no? But prolonged tickling is not fun.

Prononymous, rogue demon hunter Wed, Dec 22, 2010 5:30:17pm

I'll bet tickling evolved because mother nature thought it would be hilarious for a grown man to be incapacitated by a couple of children. :(

CuriousLurker Wed, Dec 22, 2010 6:27:07pm

re: #7 prononymous

LOL!

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