A new research paper argues that laughter and amusement help people feel better by creating positive experiences.

The study’s authors integrated insights from psychology, management, linguistics, anthropology, medicine and neuroscience to propose a framework that summarizes the current scientific knowledge about humor.

Professor Caleb Warren of the University of Arizona is one of the paper’s authors.

"If you're at a restaurant and you're laughing with your friends the experience is going to be more pleasant, if you're at a dentist and the dentist starts making jokes you might even feel less pain from the dental treatments," Warren said.

The paper also says laughing tends to make people more creative, but also more careless.