Well, I guess you are in the right track, because ticklish sensations are more of emotional or social than physiological. Do you notice how some people laugh even before you tickle or touch them? This is because tickling is anticipated to produce laughter and these sensations can appear to be pleasurable and exciting.

Tickling is also a bonding mechanism between humans. It unconsciously builds trust (ex. between child and parent, between siblings, or between friends) because of the anticipated pleasure that it gives us. Even if sometimes heavy tickling feels unpleasant, a person still anticipates excitement and laughter. Bonding and emotional attachment is the main reason why a person does not feel such sensations when you try to tickle yourself. This is also applicable to a person’s annoyance when a stranger tries to tickle them. The same goes when a stranger tickles a child, even the child feels ticklish, he/she will be displeased and try to withdraw from the person.

My first impression when I read this question was that it was a young child trying to act adult. When I read your other questions and found that you are from Serbia, I quickly realized that English is not your first language and I apologize for the early judgment. You might want to type your questions onto a word document and do a spell check before posting them here. When the spelling is corrected, Copy/Paste your question (or your answers) into Yahoo Answers and you will have far fewer rude replies than you otherwise might have. I say this because I do not want you to be hurt by some of the cruel people on this site.

And now to try to answer your question. …

Most people (and animals) are ticklish to some extent. There are lots of nerve endings under the skin and some places (like the feet, armpits, neck…) have a higher concentration of nerve endings which may heighten the ticklish sensation.

There are some people who have never been ticklish in their life. This is a minority.

There are some people who used to be very ticklish but have learned how to control it and not laugh any more. Frequently, these people were tickle-tortured as children and they had to learn how to block it for their “survival” The tickling would stop if they did not laugh.

Some people are very ticklish and they hate to be tickled because they cannot handle it or because they are constantly tickled when they don’t want to be tickled or because they cannot hold their bladder when they are tickled…..

Then there are a lot of people like me who absolutely LOVE to tickle and be tickled consensually. For people like us, we enjoy an additional health benefit from the tickling. When we are having fun and laughing, our brains are flooding our bodies with endorphins. Endorphins help reduce stress and promote healing.

The “ticklish” sensation in the world of nature is how we know when a bug is crawling on our arm or on our skin. It doesn’t hurt but we are very aware that something is there.

In the social world, tickling is frequently a tool for bonding. When a mother or father tickles their baby, the baby usually smiles. The parents laugh and smile that the baby laughs and smiles even more. As long as the parents do not tickle the baby too much, the baby equates the tickling with smiles, laughter and love.

The problems may come later in their life when somebody takes advantage of the ticklish child and tickles the child well past their limits. This is no longer fun and it can bring pain, fear, anger and a feeling of helplessness to the child.

Tickling should always be consensual and always done with respect for the feelings, concerns, limits and desires of the person being tickled.

I have had many long, consensual tickling encounters with ladies where we have taken turns tickling and being tickled. I have never had a bad encounter and I have never taken advantage of my tickle partners. To me, tickling is a form or affection. There is a little bit of a “power trip” involved in that I can control making my tickler partner laugh by my touch. That said, I cannot have fun in an encounter if my partner is not having fun. This is why I view it as a form of affection.

The bottom line is that I believe most people are ticklish at birth because of the nerve endings in their skin.

The tickling experiences they encounter as they grow will determine how much they love to be tickled, like to be tickled, dislike being tickled or hate to be tickled. Those experiences may also cause some people to learn how to control themselves so that they do not laugh.

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Good luck on your project!