An analysis of the laughter of psychiatric personnel in group conferences led to the following conclusions. Most laughter of the group was determined by both the content and the form of the stimulus remark. The two forms of remark most likely to evoke laughter were disparaging remarks and those demonstrating incongruity, whereas the commonest contents involved physicians and patients. Attitudes toward the latter were disparaging; sexual themes evoked much less laughter than death. Such reactions were likely to occur under tense conditions such as during controversies, when there had been a violation of mores, or when the individual was in need of emotional support from the group.