It has long been believed that humor and laughter play an important role in the maintenance of both psychological and physiological health and wellbeing in the face of stress (Lefcourt & Martin, 1986). (Please knock hard on the door, the bell doesnt work.). And no doubt comedians are having to think differently about their routines in light of the current climate. Accessibility StatementFor more information contact us atinfo@libretexts.orgor check out our status page at https://status.libretexts.org. (2006). Wheres the incongruity? In another study examining the effectiveness of humor among individuals with mental illness, a humor-based activity involving clowns (i.e., the therapeutic clown approach) was implemented among psychiatric ward inpatients. Legal. Confusion rarely leads to humor. For example, among physicians who do the exceedingly difficult work of treating cancer patients, humor has been reported as beneficial for patients, doctors, and relationships between the two (Joshua, Cotroneo, & Clarke, 2005). They then proceed to pour their drink over you. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. Roberts (2019, 92) and Hurley et. The superiority theory is concerned with the affective response For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions To recap: wit involves an individual intentionally connecting multiple pieces of sensuous knowledge under the banner of a single piece of abstract knowledge, making us laugh and making them seem smart; whereas folly involves someone unintentionally attaching one piece of abstract knowledge to two pieces of sensuous knowledge, making us laugh and making them seem silly. Ok, that wasnt simple. What these studies are adding up to is the idea that incongruity--when an idea or an object is out of place--is the heart of humor, Martin says. Lets continue using this approach of relying on jokes to clarify the IT; its a timehonored tradition in humor research. Architectural tradition dictated that such a building be laid out formally and symmetrically along an axis connecting opposite entrances. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Your friend has started out with two pieces of sensuous knowledgea medium brush we use for toilets and a small one we use for teethand intentionally grouped them both under the abstract knowledge of 'toothbrush'. The presentation of the sign primes us to think the store is owned, not by an Asian man, but a black person of color. You are revising for a test with a friend. The researchers found reductions in anger, anxiety, psychopathology, and depression among participants (Gelkopf, Gonen, Kurs, Melamed, & Bleich, 2006). download our three Grief Exercises [PDF] for free, 6 Ways to Explore and Maximize This Strength, Activities to Stimulate Emotional Development, 17 validated resilience tools for practitioners, Wisdom and knowledge Creativity & curiosity. The listener has to figure out how one side can be exactly like the other, and especially so at that. If my son had substituted an adjective or conjunction it would have been odd. for an online course and found your article really helpful.Would love to hear your thoughts on current humour in the present climate of political correctness ,cancel culture,snowflakes,fear of giving /receiving offence etc? Think about whats required for you to get a joke. Today's humor research draws on elements of these primary theories and remixes them. According to the Benign Violation Theory (BVT), something is perceived as humorous when it hits the "sweet spot," where there is not only a violation, but where the violation is also perceived as benign. The predictive nature of humor, authoritative parenting style, and academic achievement on indices of initial adjustment and commitment to college among college freshmen. searching for some most common kind of humor. Indeed, by nurturing their sense of humor, adults equip children with important coping skills (Martin, 1989). They did not realise this could be done and therefore did not realise they were doing it. The concept of defense mechanisms originated in psychoanalytic theory. We hope you enjoyed reading this article. . Humor theories and the physiological benefits of laughter. To use an example from the movie Friday, theres a scene where we enter into a local bodega (a corner store) in a largely African American community and we are met with a sign that proudly proclaims that the store is Black Owned. As the camera pans down, an Asian man rises from below the counter. 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). In linguistics, the affiliative aspect of humor has dominated the . Once they begin college, humor is predictive of better college adjustment (Hickman & Crossland, 2004). Examining the impact of a brief humor exercise on psychological wellbeing. The answer is in a real sense spot on. Marziali, E., McDonald, L., & Donahue, P. (2008). A Subtreasury of American Humor. Incongruity can mean "lack of harmony" or "dissonance." That doesn't sound really funny. I was raised as an only child. Klein, D., & Kuiper, N. (2006). In this way, pent-up pressure is relieved through laughter. Humor may thus for example serve to facilitate relief of the tension caused by one's fears. The initial question is nonsensical. A sense of humor is associated with increased life satisfaction and a pleasurable and engaged life (Ruch, Proyer, & Weber, 2010). I shall begin, however, with a sketchy review of some of the main theories of humour and the standard objections to them, which usually take the form of providing counter-examples. There is little doubt that humor enables people to cope better with stress. Hence weve found a counter-example to the theory. This seems fairto think about something as a human is to have a certain understanding or perception of that thing. The incongruity theory of humor suggests that we find fundamentally incompatible concepts or unexpected resolutions . The BVT specifies how psychological distance plays a central role in determining whether a . Humor, according to relief theory, is used mainly to overcome sociocultural inhibitions . Farber (2007) has asserted that this theory was used since the times of Plato and Aristotle, and that it provides a revealing but narrow view in relation to the application of humor in literature (2007, p.72). But what matters here is that something is at odds with another. Therefore, it is suggested that the absence of detrimental humor is equally important to the presence of prosocial humor styles (Martin, 2019). Introduction. If youre not an English speaker knock-knock jokes will go over your head. After watching a funny video, cancer patients reported significantly less stress, and a negative correlation was found between stress and amount of mirthful laughter. Most humor researchers would agree that the core of humor is the perception of an incongruity (Forabosco 1992; Gervais and Wilson 2005; Scheel and Gockel 2017).Humor refers to a thought, statement, or event that is somehow incongruous or surprising and accompanied by humor cues that signal a nonserious mindset (Mulkay 1988). Children also have to realize that they are substituting and are 48 essentially playing around with the structure of the rhyme. To understand incongruity in non-words, it is important to know that some letters are more likely than others in the English language (e.g., "E" is more frequent than "Q"), and furthermore . Samson, A., & Antonelli, Y. If you can figure it out, please skip the rest of this paragraph, but there may be more incongruities than you initially think. In general, all other things being equal, if theres no reason to worry about the incongruity, then laugh. Philosophy Participants were categorized into either high or low sense of humor groups. Here we share defense mechanism worksheets as tools for practitioners. (2014). For example, you could buy five pigs. The LibreTexts libraries arePowered by NICE CXone Expertand are supported by the Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot Project, the UC Davis Office of the Provost, the UC Davis Library, the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Program, and Merlot. If you were to see a character brushing their teeth with a toilet brush in a slapstick comedy show, it would be amusing. You need to know something about it. One of these theories is incongruity theory (the other two are known as relief theory and superiority theory). For example, current neuroscience indicates that the areas that support higher-level conceptual thought, are involved in humor processing. One of simplest forms of humor in young children can be found when they actively do something contrary to expectation or norm. On the association between humor and burnout. In K. S. Cameron & G. M. Spreitzer (Eds.). Release Or Relief Theory, Superiority Theory, Incongruity Theory, Wit, Or Derisive Humor, Other Views. They have created a moment of incongruity for the audience, helping us realise the inadequacy of our abstract knowledge, without realising this themselves and therefore making themselves look silly. The Incongruity Theory (IT, hereafter) is the dominant theory used in modern research to explain humorous things. You tell your friend to 'Look up the answer'. But then the coda of the joke, in attempting to explain the answer muddies the conceptual space. The joke teller then delightfully admonishes the implied silliness of the listener to have been making owl noises rather than responding appropriately to the joke form. Dont forget to download our three Grief Exercises [PDF] for free. Gelkopf, M. (2011). Jack uses irony, schadenfreude, and the incongruity theory to bring his story to life. Its not without its issues or critics. Raskin, Victor. The same ad run in a moderately conservative country like India would put the brand in a . Philosophers are a notoriously surly bunchheck, even our patron saint, Socrates, did his best to show everyone was wrongand that landed him a heaping glassful of hemlock juice, which isnt too helpful if living is your goal. You reply with "Why, am I marrying her?" You know its coming. But whatever incongruity you focus on, the joke works on frustrating or playing around with expectations. Why does this support the IT? 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. Similarly, Vaughan, Zeigler-Hill, and Arnau (2014) addressed stable and unstable self-esteem among college students and found that participants with stable high self-esteem were lower in less adaptive forms of humor (i.e., self-defeating humor). Mary is deeply offended by office jokes following the parade incident. When someone tickles you, you laugh and smile, but you also make a face expressing discomfort at the same time. Give yourself a pat on the back! Humor. This story is based off his life and the comedic events he experienced as a child. In the historical fiction novel, Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos, he includes examples of humor to improve his story. By contrast, the present study used a humor corpus with the novelty of three-element verbal jokes to perform direct . Here are 18 examples of studies showing evidence of humor as a strength. There are samples, in the provided dataset, that uses the incongruity to create humor . The incongruity theory is especially powerful in explaining humor across different genres, including accidental humor and humor in nature. Request Permissions. Additionally, humor may represent a vital strength during middle childhood by helping kids to gain the support of a peer group and by enhancing self-esteem (Klein & Kuiper, 2006). There are three main concepts that guide this research; relief theory, incongruity theory, and superiority theory. Humor and oncology. Humor styles and their relationship to explicit and implicit self-esteem. Talbot, L., & Lumden, D. (2000). A comprehensive look at how children are impacted by the experience of humor is described by Hogan (2003), who noted that humor benefits children in terms of enhanced social bonding, stress relief, and pain coping. Detrimental humor (e.g., sarcasm and self-disparaging humor), on the other hand, is believed to have potentially negative ramifications such as reduced relationship quality and low self-esteem (Martin, 2019). Humor as a character strength among the elderly. The humor students bring to the classroom is also essential. Everyone who has experienced love has, most likely, faced a painful breakup. (2002). This is textbook IT. But basically, the kernel of the idea is that you experience something that does not fit easily within the particular context. In this way, humor results from feelings of triumph over the errors or misfortune of others, which promotes self-enhancement and feelings of superiority. A beautiful piece of sculpture or statuary can do the same. So now that you understand the basics of incongruity theory, there is just one final part for you to understanddon't worry, we're almost there! Roughly the general idea is this. There are numerous positive benefits of humor, such as enhanced positive mood, life satisfaction, self-esteem, job performance, creativity, social bonding, and. This concept is exemplified by the ability of healthcare workers to employ dark humor as a way of coping with chronic job stress (e.g., Schulman-Green, 2003; Talbot & Lumden, 2000; Wanzer et al., 2005). The use of humor in medicine has also been studied from the perspective of healthcare workers. Importantly, gallows humor used in this way is not aggressive or hurtful to others. But this also shows how deeply cognitive the act is. According to Schopenhauer, incongruity theory allows all of the 'ludicrous' to be divided into two categories. Before you continue reading, we thought you might like to download our three Grief Exercises [PDF] for free. Incongruity Theory. Incongruity is mostly a non-controversial, generally accepted idea, as claimed, for example, by Perlmutter ( 2002, p. 155) "the observation that some form of incongruity is an essential condition for humor, is universally accepted in every serious analysis of the subject." 1970 Royal Institute of Philosophy Ongoing research is beginning to recognize that the feelings associated with losing a [], Each grief experience is unique, yet we share the need to have it witnessed without someone attempting to lessen it or find ways to reframe [], Every day, millions of people are affected by the loss of a loved one. This article will provide readers with an abundance of information regarding the theoretical foundations of humor within the field of psychology, as well as empirical studies linking humor to various favorable outcomes. . We will be focusing on understanding it in this article. Incongruity is something that occurs when things are not in harmony or keeping with the surroundings of other aspects of something. A child with a well-developed sense of humor has been described as becoming a joy tracker or humor spotter in everyday life a point of view that will be carried into adulthood (Franzini, 2002, p. 11). A good example of surrealist absurdity can be found in Salvador Dalis painting, The Persistence of Memory in which we see 47 clock faces melting like a rubber pancake. Adaptive humor is linked with increased stable positive mood and decreased stable negative mood (Cann & Collette, 2014). The Incongruity Theory reveals the affinity between philosophy and comedy and rebukes the argument that humor is "hostile and irresponsible" (Morreall) . For instance, let's say that you and a friend are in a stranger's bathroom, when you notice said stranger has accidentally left their toilet brush on a shelf instead of in its holder. 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