Police Psychology | Where Has All the Laughter Gone?

by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.

Cop humor is iconic but it is disappearing and we should try to figure out why.  In fact, those in police psychology understand the importance of laughter and laughing to our overall well-beings (particularly in helping cops deal with stress). And yet, we don’t laugh anymore. There, I said it.

Now before you get all upset and yell that this isn’t true, let me explain myself. I’m 60 years old, and I have an 9-year-old daughter. I’ve noticed young parents with kids her age don’t laugh with their kids as much as my parents did with me, or as much as I do with my daughter. And this sets in motion a vicious cycle in which children laugh less and less as the years and generations go on and on.  What is going to happen to them? (more…)