| The feeling experienced when we are tickled, triggers in us an oversized bodily reaction. This is actually a natural defense reflex to avert us of little creepy crawlers. Slight tickles from insects can cause us to bend in panic, sending a chill through our body. Our reaction to tickling is different to that of insects, in that we simultaneously realize that what we initially perceived as an attack to our body, proves to actually pose no real threat. This perceived "Violation" to our physical or moral constitution in combination with our ability to identify it as "Normal" – or in other words, to overcome it, is according to scientists the basic principle of humor. Tickling thus provokes rhythmic, vocalized, expiratory and involuntary actions – better known as laughter. It is believed that the first human laughter may have begun as a gesture of shared relief at the passing of danger.
But tickling is not simply fun. To a mother tickling her baby, it is a communicative form of showing affection; and to lovers, it is even perceived as erotic. Tickling is therefore in the first place a physical and often intimate form of socializing. At the same time though, prolonged tickling can be a deadly torture, such as practiced in mediaeval Europe.
Our body's spasmodic response to tickling is beyond our control. Independent of education or culture, we will all give into this untamed and primary form of behavior. The act of tickling is therefore an exercise of great power over an other person. While putting the tickled person into a quite defenseless state, it gives the power to arbitrarily induce any mixture of extreme pleasure and pain.
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