Dawn Picken of the New Zealand Herald (7/21/2017), expresses a few common and scientific interpretations of comedy and laughter, but she also expresses a better view.
What’s funny?
Picken notes:
Conventional wisdom and even scientific research suggest something is funny because it’s true.
Not exactly. More specifically, research (and David Misch, who I’ve talked about before) shows that sometimes it’s funny because we believe it might be true – it’s believable, tenable, truth-adjacent, truths. Sometimes, we hope it’s not true – we hope they’re unreliable narrators telling us outlandish stories, like when Bobcat Goldthwaite talks about swinging his date’s cat around by the tail and inquiring about more pets.
The point is, when we recognize something in the joke that resonates with something we believe – or want to – or like, we often are amused, whether or not we laugh.
Why laughter?
Picken has more “conventional wisdom” thoughts on the causes of laughter.
Laughter is more than frivolous fun – it’s a survival skill. So say social scientists. Or anyone who has weathered a life crisis, like Louis C.K.
Laughing, even in death’s face, is what we do when we’ve run out tears, courage or stamina.
These quotes draw primarily on Tension Release/Relief theory (and other, more nuanced theories I have yet to address). This is the idea that when we are truly in a crisis, we build up so much psychological and emotional tension and pressure, that it must be released or bad things will happen. Most theorists argue it doesn’t work this way, but the popular view persists.
The quotes also point to theories of guffaws and fake laughs, where we perform a good-humored personality in front of our bosses and critics to survive and fit in, which is the first part of the next quote:
Laughter promotes attraction, social bonding and learning. It can dilate the narrowest of views, softening our armour while palpating our brains’ frontal lobes.
One of the common views of laughter is that we all laugh for the same reason, so if you’re laughing and I’m laughing, you instantly seem similar to me, and loads of social scientists have shown that similarity increases attraction. Further, part of John C. Meyer’s theory of humor was that it acts as a unifying force, bringing people into communities and clarifying our beliefs and values. In this sense, it also promotes learning – through choosing to laugh and noticing others doing the same, we learn about our community.
Active audiences
I like that the focus is on the laughter as active, rather than the comic as active. The general view is that it’s the comic that dilates narrow views, softens armour, palpates frontal lobes. Picken seems to note that the audience does it themselves.
In choosing to laugh, they open their minds, let down their guards, and begin to think. She seems to acknowledge that laughing is not a passive, unconscious reaction to an overwhelming funny joke force, but an active, thinking response.
Questions? Comments? Thoughts? Additions?
