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dc.contributor.advisorRuss Rymer.en_US
dc.contributor.authorWanucha, Genevieve M. (Genevieve Marie)en_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writing.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2010-04-28T17:03:50Z
dc.date.available2010-04-28T17:03:50Z
dc.date.copyright2009en_US
dc.date.issued2009en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54575
dc.descriptionThesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2009.en_US
dc.descriptionCataloged from PDF version of thesis.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 44-48).en_US
dc.description.abstractThere are few things as familiar to us as the experience of laughing and crying. Studying the two emotional expressions side to side is a way to see our species anew. A way of linking what we share with other mammals to that which sets us apart from all other species. Pulling laughing and crying onto center stage in all their theatrical glory creates a scene of which philosophers and anthropologists have long dreamt: a vision that is uniquely human. Laughing and crying are in many ways physiological and psychological opposites, but these complex behaviors are not exact reversals of the same bodily processes. Nor have researchers told me that they are connected in any biologically relevant way. But zooming out of narrow scientific definitions, digging into our evolutionary history, focusing on the disorders of laughing and crying, looking to the stage where actors and actresses come alive through their tears, there emerges a puzzle of psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary theory, and neurology slowly snapping together.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Genevieve M. Wanucha.en_US
dc.format.extent48 p.en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582en_US
dc.subjectGraduate Program in Science Writing.en_US
dc.titleThe clearest mirror : the science of laughing and cryingen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreeS.M.in Science Writingen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduate Program in Science Writingen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies
dc.identifier.oclc567788132en_US


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