The science of humor: Researcher reveal the misfortune of others is key to a good gag
Think of the most hilarious video you’ve ever seen on the internet. Why is it so funny?
As a researcher who investigates some of the potential side effects of humor, I spend a fair bit of time verifying the funniness of the jokes, photos and videos we present to participants in our studies.
Quantifying the perception of humor is paramount in ensuring our findings are valid and reliable.
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From ancient Greece to today, many thinkers from around the world have yearned to understand what makes us laugh. There are many humor theories that explain what makes a joke funny and why humans have the need to laugh
THEORIES OF HUMOR
Philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato suggested that all humor is derived from the misfortunes of others – and therefore, our own relative superiority.
Charles Gruner, the late expert on superiority theory, suggest that all humor is derived from competition.
The relief theory of humor stems from Sigmund Freud’s assertion that laughter lets us relieve tension and release ‘psychic energy.’
The incongruity theory of humor suggests that we find fundamentally incompatible concepts or unexpected resolutions funny.
Derived from the linguist Thomas Veatch’s ‘violation theory,’ which describes various ways for incongruity to be funny, BVT attempts to create one global theory to unify all previous theories of humor and account for issues with each.
We often rely on pretesting – that is, trying out jokes and other potential stimuli on different samples of people – to give us a sense of whether they might work in our studies.
To make predictions on how our funny materials will be perceived by study subjects, we also turn to a growing body of humor theories that speculate on why and when certain situations are considered funny.
From ancient Greece to today, many thinkers from around the world have yearned to understand what makes us laugh.
Whether their reasons for studying humor were strategic (like some of Plato’s thoughts on using humor to manipulate people’s political views) or simply inquisitive, their insights have been crucial to the development of humor research today.
Take the following video as an example of a funny stimulus one might use in humor research:
To summarize: A man and his female companion are enjoying a pleasant day observing a moose in one of Sweden’s forests.
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The woman makes a sudden movement, causing the moose to charge the couple.
The man stands his ground, causing the moose to stop in his tracks.
After a few feints with a large stick and several caveman-ish grunts by the man, the defeated moose retreats while the man proclaims his victory (with more grunting).
The clip has been viewed on YouTube almost three million times, and the comments make it clear that many folks who watch it are LOLing. But why is this funny?
It is the oldest of all humor theories: Philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato alluded to the idea behind the superiority theory thousands of years ago.
It suggests that all humor is derived from the misfortunes of others – and therefore, our own relative superiority.
Thomas Hobbes also alluded to this theory in his book ‘Leviathan,’ suggesting that humor results in any situation where there’s a sudden realization of how much better we are than our direct competition.
Philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato alluded to the idea behind the superiority theory thousands of years ago. It suggests that all humor is derived from the misfortunes of others – and therefore, our own relative superiority
OXFORD UNIVERSITY REVEALS WHAT MAKES A JOKE FUNNY
Researchers from Oxford University studied the reaction of 55 undergraduates, from the London School of Economics, to 65 different jokes from an online compilation of the 101 funniest jokes of all time.
The majority of the jokes used in the study were produced by successful comedians.
Students found jokes that involved two characters and up to five back-and-forth levels of something known as ‘intentionality’ between the comedian and the audience to be the funniest.
According to the study, the best jokes are thought to build on a set of expectations and have a punchline to update the knowledge of the listener in an unexpected way.
Expectations that involve the thoughts or intentions of people other than the joke-teller or the audience, for example the characters in the joke, are harder to pin down.
Our natural ability to handle only a limited number of mindstates comes into play.
However, these findings do not suggest that humour is defined by how clever a joke is, but indicates that there is a limit to how complex its content can be to still be considered funny.
Verbal jokes commonly involve commentary on the mindstates of third parties, and each such mindstate adds an additional level of intentionality and its corresponding cognitive load.
Taking this theory into consideration, it seems like the retreating moose is the butt of the joke in this scenario.
Charles Gruner, the late expert on superiority theory, suggest that all humor is derived from competition.
In this case, the moose lost that competition.
The relief theory of humor stems from Sigmund Freud’s assertion that laughter lets us relieve tension and release ‘psychic energy.’
In other words, Freud and other relief theorists believe that some buildup of tension is inherent to all humorous scenarios and the perception of humor is directly related to the release of that tension.
Freud used this idea to explain our fascination with taboo topics and why we might find it humorous to acknowledge them.
For example, my own line of research deals with humor in interracial interactions and how it can be used to facilitate these commonly tense situations.
SCIENCE OF BAD HUMOR
A Western Carolina University researcher explains the concept disparagement humor, which is a paradoxical that communicates two conflicting messages.
One is an explicit hostile or a prejudice message, which is coupled with an implicit message that ‘it doesn’t count as hostility or prejudice because I didn’t mean it — it’s just a joke.’
However, experts found that this type of humor causes individuals to discriminate towards targeted groups.
It is also a way for people to disguise their true beliefs and attitudes in fear of being criticized.
Many comedians have tackled this topic as well, focusing on how language is used in interracial settings and using it as an example of how relief can be funny.
Interestingly, this theory has served as the rationale behind many studies documenting the psychological and physiological benefits of laughter.
In both cases, the relief of tension (physiological tension, in the case of laughing) can lead to positive health outcomes overall, including decreased stress, anxiety and even physical pain.
In the case of our moose video: Once the moose charges, the tension builds as the man and the animal face off for an extended period of time.
The tension is released when the moose gives up his ground, lowers his ears and eventually scurries away.
The video would probably be far less humorous if the tension had been resolved with violence – for instance, the moose trampling the man, or alternatively ending up with a stick in its eye.
The incongruity theory of humor suggests that we find fundamentally incompatible concepts or unexpected resolutions funny.
Thomas Hobbes also alluded to this theory in his book ‘Leviathan,’ suggesting that humor results in any situation where there’s a sudden realization of how much better we are than our direct competition – people could laugh at a comedian they feel is worse off than they are
Basically, we find humor in the incongruity between our expectations and reality.
Resolving incongruity can contribute to the perception of humor as well.
This concept is known as as the ‘incongruity-resolution’ theory, and primarily refers to written jokes.
When identifying what makes a humorous situation funny, this theory can be applied broadly; it can account for the laughs found in many different juxtaposed concepts.
Take the following one-liners as examples:
‘I have an Epi-Pen. My friend gave it to me as he was dying. It seemed very important to him that I have it.’
HUMOR IS LEARNED FROM YOUR FRIENDS
A study has discovered that your nearest and dearest could be the ones responsible for your punch lines falling flat.
Academics at the University of Strathclyde have dispelled the myth that people are drawn to those who find the same things funny.
Instead, it seems we develop the same sense of humor as our friends when we’re younger, and this could help make friendships last.
In the first study of its kind, more than 1,200 boys and girls aged between 11 and 13 in the Midlands were asked which classmates they were closest to.
They also answered a series of questions designed to categorise their sense of humor into one of four types.
Affiliative humor involves telling jokes with broad appeal and is thought to bring people together.
By contrast, aggressive humor involves teasing others. This may be a popular strategy initially but could be isolating over time.
Those who favor self-defeating humor put themselves down to raise a laugh, while fans of self-enhancing humor also poke fun at themselves but in a good-natured way.
The process was repeated six months later and the answers given by pupils whose friendships had stood the test of time were analysed.
This revealed that, initially, best friends did not find the same things funny.
However, if one liked affiliative humor, the other grew to enjoy it.
‘Remains to be seen if glass coffins become popular.’
The humor in both of these examples relies on incongruous interpretations: In the first, a person has clearly misinterpreted his friend’s dying wish. In the second, the phrase ‘remains to be seen’ is a play on words that takes on two very different meanings depending on how you read the joke.
In the case of our moose video, the incongruity results from the false expectation that the interaction between man and moose would result in some sort of violence.
When we see our expectations foiled, it results in the perception of humor.
Incongruity is also a fundamental part of the benign violations theory of humor (BVT), one of the most recently developed explanations.
Charles Gruner, the late expert on superiority theory, suggest that all humor is derived from competition. And the relief theory of humor stems from Sigmund Freud’s assertion that laughter lets us relieve tension and release ‘psychic energy’
SCIENTSTS SAY THESE ARE THE TOP FIVE RANKING JOKES
1 – A newlywed couple moves into their new house.
One day the husband comes home from work and his wife says, ‘Honey, you know, in the upstairs bathroom one of the pipes is leaking, could you fix it?’
The husband says, ‘What do I look like, Mr. Plumber?’
A few days go by, and he comes home from work and his wife says, ‘Honey, the car won’t start. I think it needs a new battery. Could you change it for me?’
He says: ‘What do I look like, Mr. Goodwrench?’
Another few days go by, and it’s raining pretty hard.
The wife finds a leak in the roof. She says, ‘Honey, there’s a leak on the roof! Can you please fix it?’
He says, ‘What do I look like, Bob Vila?’
The next day the husband comes home, and the roof is fixed. So is the plumbing. So is the car. He asks his wife what happened.
‘Oh, I had a handyman come in and fix them,’ she says.
‘Great! How much is that going to cost me?’ he snarls.
Wife says: ‘Nothing. He said he’d do it for free if I either baked him a cake or slept with him.’
‘Uh, well, what kind of cake did you make?’ asks the husband.
‘What do I look like,’ she says, ‘Betty Crocker?’
2 – It’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, and a man makes his way to his seat right at center ice. He sits down, noticing that the seat next to him is empty.
He leans over and asks his neighbor if someone will be sitting there. ‘No’ says the neighbor. ‘The seat is empty.’
‘This is incredible,’ said the man. ‘Who in their right mind would have a seat like this for the Stanley Cup and not use it?‘
The neighbor says, ‘Well, actually, the seat belongs to me. I was supposed to come with my wife, but she passed away.
‘This is the first Stanley Cup we haven’t been to together since we got married.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. That’s terrible… But couldn’t you find someone else, a friend or relative, or even a neighbor to take the seat?’
The man shakes his head. ‘No,’ he says. ‘They’re all at the funeral.’
3 – Three guys, stranded on a desert island, find a magic lantern containing a genie, who grants them each one wish.
The first guy wishes he was off the island and back home. The second guy wishes the same. The third guy says ‘I’m lonely. I wish my friends were back here.’
4 – A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, ‘This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.’
The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, ‘Which do you want, son?’ The boy takes the quarters and leaves.
‘What did I tell you?’ said the barber. ‘That kid never learns!’ Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store.
‘Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?’ The boy licked his cone and replied, ‘Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!’
5 – On a passenger flight, the pilot comes over the public address system as usual and to greet the passengers.
He tells them at what altitude they’ll be flying, the expected arrival time, and a bit about the weather, and advises them to relax and have a good flight.
Then, forgetting to turn off the microphone, he says to his co-pilot, ‘What would relax me right now is a cup of coffee and a blowjob.’
All the passengers hear it. As a stewardess immediately begins to run toward the cockpit to tell the pilot of his slip-up, one of the passengers stops her and says ‘Don’t forget the coffee!’
Derived from the linguist Thomas Veatch’s ‘violation theory,’ which describes various ways for incongruity to be funny, BVT attempts to create one global theory to unify all previous theories of humor and account for issues with each.
Broadly, benign violations theory asserts that all humor derives from three necessary conditions:
The presence of some sort of norm violation, be it a moral norm violation (robbing a retirement home), social norm violation (breaking up with a long-term boyfriend via text message) or physical norm violation (purposefully sneezing directly on a child).
A ‘benign’ or ‘safe’ context in which the violation takes place (this can take many forms).
The interpretation of the first two points simultaneously. In other words, one must view, read or otherwise interpret a violation as relatively harmless.
We’ve all wondered why some phrase or events cause us to erupt with laughter. In many ways, this type of inquiry is what drives people to understand the limits and consequences of humor in the first place. But people are unique and often find different things amusing
Thus far, researchers studying BVT have demonstrated a few different scenarios in which the perception of a benign violation could take place – for example, when there is weak commitment to the norm being violated.
Take the example of a church raffling off a Hummer SUV.
They found this scenario is much less funny to churchgoers (with their strong commitment to the norm that the church is sacred and embodies values of humility and stewardship) than it is to non-churchgoers (with relatively weak norm commitment about the church).
While both groups found the concept of the church’s choice of fundraiser disgusting, only the non-churchgoers simultaneously appraised the situation as also amusing.
Hence, a benign violation is born.
In the case of our moose video, the violation is clear; there’s a moose about to charge two people, and we’re not sure what exactly is about to go down.
The benign part of the situation could be credited to a number of different sources, but it’s likely due to the fact that we’re psychologically (and physically, and temporally) distant from the individuals in the video.
THE DANGERS OF DISPARAGEMENT HUMOR
In a Western Carolina University study, we found that off-color jokes promoted discrimination against Muslims and gay men – which we measured in greater recommended budget cuts to a gay student organization, for instance.
However, disparagement humor didn’t have the same effect against two ‘justified prejudice’ groups: terrorists and racists.
Social norms are such that people didn’t need to wait for jokes to justify expressions of prejudice against these groups.
An important implication of these findings is that disparagement humor can be more or less detrimental based on the social position occupied by the targeted groups.
Other studies found that men higher in hostile sexism – antagonism against women – reported greater tolerance of gender harassment in the workplace upon exposure to sexist versus neutral (nonsexist) jokes.
Men higher in hostile sexism also recommended greater funding cuts to a women’s organization at their university after watching sexist versus neutral comedy skits.
Even more disturbing, other researchers found that men higher in hostile sexism expressed greater willingness to rape a woman upon exposure to sexist versus nonsexist humor.
They’re far away in Sweden, and we’re comfortably watching their dilemma on a screen.
At one point or another, we’ve all wondered why some phrase or occurrence has caused us to erupt with laughter.
In many ways, this type of inquiry is what drove me to research the limits and consequences of humor in the first place.
People are unique and often find different things amusing.
In order to examine the effects of humor, it is our job as researchers to try to select and craft the stimuli we present to affect the widest range of people.
The outcomes of good science stem from both the validity and reliability of our stimuli, which is why it’s important to think critically about the reasons why we’re laughing.
The application of this still-growing body of humor research and theory is seen everywhere, influencing everything from political speeches to advertising campaigns.
And while ‘laughter is the best medicine’ may be an overstatement (penicillin is probably better, for one), psychologists and medical professionals have started to lend credence to the idea that humor and laughter might have some positive effects for health and happiness.
These applications underscore the importance of developing the best understanding of humor we can.