So, I'm sitting in the doctor's office reading Discover Magazine (1997) and I find this great if somewhat dated information:
"Adults Rule. Because we rule we get to do mischieveous things to our kids. Like tickling them. It's one of life's small pleasures to sneak up behind a guileless child, tackle him or her to the ground in an affectionate, roughhouse, big-lug kind of way, then attack armpits, ribs or neck with wiggly fingers.
The little moppets just love it too. When I pounce on my sons they howl in laughter. The curl into a fetal position. They beg me to stop.
Turns out they aren't kidding. They really want me to stop. At least that's the conclusion C Harris a PhD candidate at UC San Diego has come to after conducting two studies on tickle. Laughter and tickle indeed go together, says Harris, but not because people enjoy the activity. It appears that people's hee-hawing reaction to tickle is a reflex, just like the one produced when a ball-peen hammer strikes the knee. Which means that I, a big bully, was inflicting what she calls TICKLE TORTURE on these kids. Oh dear."
First, Michael invented the term Tickle Torture long before Ms Harris even dreamed of getting a PhD in tickle. (In California you can study any thing.) And second, I don't think the ball-peen hammer thing applies. I do not burst out laughing if someone strikes me with a hammer. But, you get the point.
So there you have it. Vindication Michael. As if you needed it at this point. We have believed in tickle torture now for nearly 30 years!!
2 comments:
"When I pounce on my sons they howl.... The curl into a fetal position. They beg me to stop."
Typical reaction of torture victims.
Now, if you try to tickle me, I am liable to punch you - it is a reflex, like trying to shoot you if you come at me with a hammer.
Hear hear!!!
Post a Comment