"In the psychological development of the child, there is a step-by-step progression from the primal smile to the smile of embarrassment, joyful laughter, laughter at a comic situation, laughter in a group, aggressive laughter at an outsider, and finally (a somewhat depressing climax) the laugher of
Schadenfreude. ... [A]t each step laughter signifies an experience of relief (
Entlastung), both physically and psychologically."
—
Peter Berger, Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience (1997)
