-
If you would like to get your account Verified, read this thread -
The TMF is sponsored by Clips4sale - By supporting them, you're supporting us. -
>>> If you cannot get into your account email me at [email protected] <<<
Don't forget to include your username
The TMF is sponsored by:
What is the definition of ticklishness?
- Thread starter derekwa
- Start date
Perhaps both, but I think the laugh more. I have a friend who's the most ticklish person I know, but whenver someone tickles her she laughs the house down but doesn't move at all. She just grabs your hands and doesn't squirm or run away. To me, if the person doesn't laugh, they're not ticklish.
dig dug dog
3rd Level Red Feather
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2001
- Messages
- 1,678
- Points
- 38
What is ticklishness?
Having thought and read about your question for years, I offer some thoughts:
There have been many theories, beginning in about the 19th century, for ticklishness and the laughter it (so wonderfully) produces. They range from an evolutionary defensive reaction against insects crawling on your skin to a process for encouraging bonding between mothers and children. Some of these theories do not explain the laughter component at all.
However, the theory that really seems to fit best first became known to me in the new edition of the Encylopaedia Britannica. The term they coined for it is "bissociation". In my own words the concept they describe is this: Tickling is a kind of playful attack which causes the recipient to experience two different strong emotions at once. On the one hand, she or he is being "attacked" which creates some fear or anxiety, but at the same time, the ticklee knows it is not for "real", that the tickler is not really trying to hurt her or him. This living on two contradictory levels at once generates laughter as a release.
In this way tickling is like a lot of verbal humor where a joke gets you to temporarily accept a reality which you know deep down couldn't be. For example, the classic case of chutzpah about the man who kills both his parents, but throws himself on the mercy of the court because, after all, he is an orphan.
On the one hand, this is completely ridiculous, but at the same time the man's behavior follows the logic of courtroom practice and his claim is "true".
This bissociation theory shows that ticklishness is mainly psychological and it explains so much about the dynamics of tickling. Being ticklish does depend on the "ability" of the tickled person to perceive the touches as a (mock) attack. Some people will just never feel that having fingers moving around on the bottoms of their feet could really "get them". But the same person having one little pinky move closer and closer to her ribs or underarms could really feel "threatened" and out of control.
On the other hand if the tickled person doesn't feel that she or he is (ultimately) safe and won't really be hurt, the tickling is much more likely to be experienced as painful. This also explains why some people cannot stand to be tickled or scream rather than laugh: they can't feel that the touching is in fun and go with it--it is just too threatening.
Control, or lack of it, is a key element. If you feel perfectly in control there is no threat, not even a playful one. This is why a lot of people say "I'm not ticklish, unless someone tickles me by surprise". It is not the "surprise" that makes them ticklish, it is that they were off guard and felt more vulnerable. Now they can sense the "attack".
Finally--and I'm sorry if this is too long for many of you--the fact that ticklishness is part of a psychological "contest" is reflected in this: Many people are not so ticklish if they feel they can "get away" from the tickler whenever they want, but if they are "trapped" or "in your power", they go crazy. In other words, the very same physical sensations are experienced in very different ways emotionally.
By the way, I feel that understanding the tickling dynamic does not take away from, but rather enhances my appreciation of tickling's many pleasures.
Thanks for listening.
Having thought and read about your question for years, I offer some thoughts:
There have been many theories, beginning in about the 19th century, for ticklishness and the laughter it (so wonderfully) produces. They range from an evolutionary defensive reaction against insects crawling on your skin to a process for encouraging bonding between mothers and children. Some of these theories do not explain the laughter component at all.
However, the theory that really seems to fit best first became known to me in the new edition of the Encylopaedia Britannica. The term they coined for it is "bissociation". In my own words the concept they describe is this: Tickling is a kind of playful attack which causes the recipient to experience two different strong emotions at once. On the one hand, she or he is being "attacked" which creates some fear or anxiety, but at the same time, the ticklee knows it is not for "real", that the tickler is not really trying to hurt her or him. This living on two contradictory levels at once generates laughter as a release.
In this way tickling is like a lot of verbal humor where a joke gets you to temporarily accept a reality which you know deep down couldn't be. For example, the classic case of chutzpah about the man who kills both his parents, but throws himself on the mercy of the court because, after all, he is an orphan.
On the one hand, this is completely ridiculous, but at the same time the man's behavior follows the logic of courtroom practice and his claim is "true".
This bissociation theory shows that ticklishness is mainly psychological and it explains so much about the dynamics of tickling. Being ticklish does depend on the "ability" of the tickled person to perceive the touches as a (mock) attack. Some people will just never feel that having fingers moving around on the bottoms of their feet could really "get them". But the same person having one little pinky move closer and closer to her ribs or underarms could really feel "threatened" and out of control.
On the other hand if the tickled person doesn't feel that she or he is (ultimately) safe and won't really be hurt, the tickling is much more likely to be experienced as painful. This also explains why some people cannot stand to be tickled or scream rather than laugh: they can't feel that the touching is in fun and go with it--it is just too threatening.
Control, or lack of it, is a key element. If you feel perfectly in control there is no threat, not even a playful one. This is why a lot of people say "I'm not ticklish, unless someone tickles me by surprise". It is not the "surprise" that makes them ticklish, it is that they were off guard and felt more vulnerable. Now they can sense the "attack".
Finally--and I'm sorry if this is too long for many of you--the fact that ticklishness is part of a psychological "contest" is reflected in this: Many people are not so ticklish if they feel they can "get away" from the tickler whenever they want, but if they are "trapped" or "in your power", they go crazy. In other words, the very same physical sensations are experienced in very different ways emotionally.
By the way, I feel that understanding the tickling dynamic does not take away from, but rather enhances my appreciation of tickling's many pleasures.
Thanks for listening.
dig dug dog
3rd Level Red Feather
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2001
- Messages
- 1,678
- Points
- 38
crydun,
Thanks. Your research sounds interesting. Keep us posted on your ideas.
Thanks. Your research sounds interesting. Keep us posted on your ideas.
TicklishTouch
Registered User
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2001
- Messages
- 33
- Points
- 0
My two pennies worth....
I am so AMAZINGLY impressed by the quality and intelligence of the discussions here! I literally stumbled onto this site yesterday, and as a newbie gent here (well, not to tickling...lol), I can't wait to join in the lively and FRIENDLY topics here!
HMMMM....Define ticklishness? Seems to me, this runs paralell to the old parable about 5 blindfolded guys feeling different parts of an elephant, and coming up with five different ideas of what it was they were touching. (Something similar happenned to me one drunken weekend in college, but thats a WHOOOOLLEEEE other story...lol). I think ticklishness is a unique feeling for each 'lee...as well as a unique observation for each 'ler. For instance, the tickler may not think the lee's reactions are all that intense, yet the 'lee may feel a horrific intensity of sensations (whereby the only thing that could be WORSE in their minds, would be being straghtjacked upside down and naked in a meat locker while being forced to listen to Wayne Newton albums on a loudspeaker...). The reverse could also be true...someone who nearly wets themselves after what a 'ler thinks is an incredibly intense scene, may say afterwords (in thier best "Monty Python" sotto...)"Ohhh...I've had worse...".
Point is...ticklishness is unique for each person. What we seem to be trying to pin down here is simply a matter of degree.
Probably, the person I could best quote for this tantalizing subject might be Popeye...when he said...
"It yam what it yam"....
😀
Tanks for listening folks!
Ticklish Touch
I am so AMAZINGLY impressed by the quality and intelligence of the discussions here! I literally stumbled onto this site yesterday, and as a newbie gent here (well, not to tickling...lol), I can't wait to join in the lively and FRIENDLY topics here!
HMMMM....Define ticklishness? Seems to me, this runs paralell to the old parable about 5 blindfolded guys feeling different parts of an elephant, and coming up with five different ideas of what it was they were touching. (Something similar happenned to me one drunken weekend in college, but thats a WHOOOOLLEEEE other story...lol). I think ticklishness is a unique feeling for each 'lee...as well as a unique observation for each 'ler. For instance, the tickler may not think the lee's reactions are all that intense, yet the 'lee may feel a horrific intensity of sensations (whereby the only thing that could be WORSE in their minds, would be being straghtjacked upside down and naked in a meat locker while being forced to listen to Wayne Newton albums on a loudspeaker...). The reverse could also be true...someone who nearly wets themselves after what a 'ler thinks is an incredibly intense scene, may say afterwords (in thier best "Monty Python" sotto...)"Ohhh...I've had worse...".
Point is...ticklishness is unique for each person. What we seem to be trying to pin down here is simply a matter of degree.
Probably, the person I could best quote for this tantalizing subject might be Popeye...when he said...
"It yam what it yam"....
😀
Tanks for listening folks!
Ticklish Touch
