When we are shown it is inadequate, we feel we can relax our reliance on it. The belief that laughter heals the mind has been around for centuries. Incongruity is a mismatch between what we see or understand to be true and what we (consciously or unconsciously) expected. Lovorn, M. (2008). Effects of humor in the language classroom: Humor as a pedagogical tool in theory and practice. IT is refined by adding the play qualification so as to help us know which incongruities are funny ha-ha rather than funny strange.. Along with helping to promote resilience and cope with stress and illness, humor also serves as an invaluable strength associated with various indices of psychological wellbeing, work-related benefits, learning, and creativity. But as a tool for explicating humor theories, jokes are compact, easily digestible, and thus make for useful examples. Raskin, Victor. One way that Gantos makes his writing amusing is through the use of schadenfreude. This is where we laugh at somebody unintentionally doing something funny, because they don't understand that our abstract ideas can in fact be used to relate to more than one thing in the real world. That we see areas of the brain involved in higher level cognition and conceptual thought involved in humor behavior supports ITs claim that humor is a conceptually based activity that involve incongruity processing. Low, L., Goodenough, B., Fletcher, J., Xu, K., Casey, A., Chenoweth, L., Brodaty, H. (2014). There are three major families of theories of humor: humor as release, humor as aggression, and humor as incongruity. Hopefully this tour has shown how and why IT is the leading candidate for explaining humor perception. The role of coping humor in the physical and mental health of older adults. Whether you are interested in learning more about the psychology of humor or in finding material that will make you laugh, plenty of books are available. When in reality, it is simply a medium-sized tool for brushing. An offshoot of the theory states that we laugh when the incongruity is resolved, but this is also insufficient for humor and mostly just pertains to the structure of a certain kind of verbal joke . For example, current neuroscience indicates that the areas that support higher-level conceptual thought, are involved in humor processing. Why does this support the IT? Cambridge Journals publishes over 250 peer-reviewed academic journals across a wide range of subject areas, in print and online. The Incongruity Theory (IT, hereafter) is the dominant theory used in modern research to explain humorous things. In-congruity theories are essentially cognitive, i.e. Humor, according to relief theory, is used mainly to overcome sociocultural inhibitions . Comedians who adopt a more dead-pan style of presentation can leave their audiences confused. What are you allergic to? queried a stressed nurse as a gunshot victim was rushed into the ER. While there is a paucity of research addressing humor among older people, there is some evidence of its potential to enhance the quality of life within this group. There is little doubt that humor enables people to cope better with stress. MesmerMagnus, J., Glew, D., & Viswesvaran, C. (2012). If youve spent any time around children when they find something funny, they will quickly wear it out. In other words, laughter is a function of anticipating a different outcome than what was expected. Ruch, W., Proyer, R., & Weber, M. (2010). When is a coping technique seen as a way to manage, and when is it seen as a defense mechanism? Its also one of the reasons that humor doesnt usually cross cultures. congruity theory is satisfactory, but I believe it is more satisfactory than previous versions and deserves to be considered in this stronger form. Positive humor was found to buffer the impact of work stress on mental health, as well as to promote more effective functioning on the job. Analysis of any joke or bit of humor generally, if not nearly always, makes the jokes not funny. (2012). Whereas the previous examples involved. Legal. Two pieces of sensuous knowledgeto have a fan used on you and to have a drink poured over you- are brought under the single piece of abstract knowledge, 'to be cooled down'. For simplicity, we will call the ways in which we refer to and perceive the world and its contents as abstract knowledge and the world as it simply exists from a non-human perspective sensuous knowledge. This seems fairto think about something as a human is to have a certain understanding or perception of that thing. Whats an incongruity? We will be focusing on understanding it in this article. Self deprecating; if someone else is laughing at it because you are both flawed in the same way. Whatever gets you through today: An examination of cynical humor among emergency service professionals. Rowe, A., & Regehr, C. (2010). Honestly, I hadnt given this much thought before perhaps other commenters can share their views but Ill point you toward an interesting read I just found by Nwankw (2021), which explores this trend toward self-censorship with reference to the comedians Trevor Noah and Basket Mouth. These moments constitute 'the ludicrous'. Quoted in Huemer n.d. Really almost any placid, extraordinarily dry, joke from Wright might stand as a counter-example to the Relief theory. The Friday bit about black owned-might not work as effectively in say mainland China, or Tasmania. Humor as a defense mechanism during the Holocaust. The effect of humorous movies on inpatients with chronic schizophrenia. Its not like a piece of music. The joke teller does not do as expected and supplies a clever homonym to who in the sound hoo. Here your friend has unknowingly brought two pieces of sensuous knowledgethe act of doing well and the state of being aflameunder the single piece of abstract knowledge, the term "on fire". White, E. B. and Katherine White. An example of this is "Yo mama" jokes where each contestant tries to put down the other contestant's mother. Mauriello, M., & McConatha, J. T. (2007). The humor in both of these examples relies on incongruous . HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. There are 3 main theories used to explain the functions of humor: (1) the relief theory, (2) the incongruity theory, and (3) the superiority theory. The incongruity theory states that humor is perceived at the moment of realization of incongruity between a concept involved in a certain situation and the real objects thought to be in some relation to the concept. They remember the precise time, location, and what they were doing [], Chamber of Commerce (KvK) Registration Number: 64733564, 6229 HN Maastricht, 2023 PositivePsychology.com B.V. The listener has to figure out how one side can be exactly like the other, and especially so at that. Roberts (2019, 92) and Hurley et. They then proceed to pour their drink over you. While more research is sorely needed, extant literature suggests that humor may have many benefits among patients, such as enhanced immunity and positive emotions, improved interpersonal relationships, reduced pain, and increased positive emotions (Gelkopf, 2011). Lets look at a couple of jokes with varying levels of complexity. The editorial policy of the journal pursues the aims of the Institute: to promote the study of philosophy in all its branches: logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, social and political philosophy and the philosophies of religion, science, history, language, mind and education. Sense of humor, stable affect, and psychological well-being. In general, all other things being equal, if theres no reason to worry about the incongruity, then laugh. Think about whats required for you to get a joke. But the incongruity theory says that our perceptions of things in the real world only ever relate to part of that thing- they are incomplete. The use of humor in medicine has also been studied from the perspective of healthcare workers. Ostrower (2015, p. 184) describes humor coping within this context as a defense mechanism that under the nightmare circumstances of living in the ghettos and camps during the Holocaust, laughter was a form of rebellion against reality. Participants were categorized into either high or low sense of humor groups. One says to the other: Does this taste funny to you?. I would like to end with one of my favorite jokes from esteemed humor researcher Victor Raskin. This article provides readers with a comprehensive look at humor as an important concept in positive psychology. This little joke is pretty good at being absurd. Firstly, relief theory argues that the act of laughing helps individuals to "subconsciously overcome inhibitions". You dont ask about the difference between a single thing; comparison require two things. Cooper, C., & Sosik, J. Coping humor also has been associated with increased social support and self-efficacy among older community-dwelling adults (Marziali, McDonald, & Donahue, 2008). The most prominent neurocognitive theory of humor is the incongruity theory , which begins with detection and resolution of conflicting alternatives in the frontal lobes followed by humor appreciation in pleasure/reward areas. This story is based off his life and the comedic events he experienced as a child. Moving up the ladder of humorous complexity, lets take a look at a couple of knock-knock jokes. Other genres such as the grotesque, the macabre, the horrible, the bizarre, and the fantastic all go against our aesthetic categories, and we don't find them funny, either. Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. For example, research by Ganz and Jacobs (2014) indicated that attending a humor therapy workshop was associated with positive mental health outcomes among seniors. We realize that something doesn't match up. Describes the works of dermot bolger, e.m. forster, and kazuo ishiguro. Cooper, C. (2008). Roughly the general idea is this. . Your perception of the item is incomplete. This explains why humor is found more in times of leisure and play than anywhere else. There is a scientific fact that you need to learn but neither of you know it. Humor just feels good; it distracts us from our problems and promotes a lighter perspective. 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