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Zero to 60 Laughs per Hour: Observed Laughter, Physical Health, Personality, and Well-Being in People Aged 67 to 95, an Exploratory Study. JOURNAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10919-022-00407-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
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Warren C, Barsky A, McGraw AP. What Makes Things Funny? An Integrative Review of the Antecedents of Laughter and Amusement. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW 2020; 25:41-65. [DOI: 10.1177/1088868320961909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Despite the broad importance of humor, psychologists do not agree on the basic elements that cause people to experience laughter, amusement, and the perception that something is funny. There are more than 20 distinct psychological theories that propose appraisals that characterize humor appreciation. Most of these theories leverage a subset of five potential antecedents of humor appreciation: surprise, simultaneity, superiority, a violation appraisal, and conditions that facilitate a benign appraisal. We evaluate each antecedent against the existing empirical evidence and find that simultaneity, violation, and benign appraisals all help distinguish humorous from nonhumorous experiences, but surprise and superiority do not. Our review helps organize a disconnected literature, dispel popular but inaccurate ideas, offers a framework for future research, and helps answer three long-standing questions about humor: what conditions predict laughter and amusement, what are the adaptive benefits of humor, and why do different people think vastly different things are humorous?
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Li X, Pesonen J, Haimi E, Wang H, Astikainen P. Electrical brain activity and facial electromyography responses to irony in dysphoric and non-dysphoric participants. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2020; 211:104861. [PMID: 33045478 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2020.104861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2019] [Revised: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
We studied irony comprehension and emotional reactions to irony in dysphoric and control participants. Electroencephalography (EEG) and facial electromyography (EMG) were measured when spoken conversations were presented with pictures that provided either congruent (non-ironic) or incongruent (ironic) contexts. In a separate session, participants evaluated the congruency and valence of the stimuli. While both groups rated ironic stimuli funnier than non-ironic stimuli, the control group rated all the stimuli funnier than the dysphoric group. N400-like activity, P600, and EMG activity indicating smiling were larger after the ironic stimuli than the non-ironic stimuli for both groups. Further, in the dysphoric group the irony modulation was evident in the electrode cluster over the right hemisphere, while no such difference in lateralization was observed in the control group. The results suggest a depression-related alteration in the P600 response associated to irony comprehension, but no alterations were found in emotional reactivity specifically related to irony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueqiao Li
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40100 Jyväskylä, Finland.
| | - Janne Pesonen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40100 Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Elina Haimi
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40100 Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Huili Wang
- School of Foreign Languages, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Piia Astikainen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40100 Jyväskylä, Finland
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Addyman C, Fogelquist C, Levakova L, Rees S. Social Facilitation of Laughter and Smiles in Preschool Children. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1048. [PMID: 29997549 PMCID: PMC6030353 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2017] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Surprisingly little is known about the social dimensions of laughter in preschool children. We studied children's responses to amusing video clips in the presence or absence of peers. The sample consisted of 9 boys and 11 girls aged 31-49 months (M 39.8, SD 4.2) who watched three cartoons under three different conditions: individually, in pairs, or in groups of 6 or 8. The social viewing conditions showed significantly higher numbers of laughs and smiles than the individual viewing condition. On average children laughed eight times as much in company as on their own and smiled almost three times as much. No differences were found between pairs and groups, and no association was found between subjective funniness ratings and group size. This suggests that the presence of even a single social partner can change behavior in response to humorous material. It supports the idea that laughter and smiles are primarily flexible social signals rather than reflexive responses to humor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caspar Addyman
- Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charlotte Fogelquist
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lenka Levakova
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Rees
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
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Abstract
Jokes about Gold water and Johnson were rated by 130 Ss on election day in 1964. The difference in their response to these two types of joke correlated .53 with their candidate preference, even with the differences in their understanding of the points of the jokes partialled out. The multiple correlation of differential comprehension and candidate preference with differential humor is .62. The evidence supports a reference group theory of humor.
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McGraw AP, Warren C, Williams LE, Leonard B. Too Close for Comfort, or Too Far to Care? Finding Humor in Distant Tragedies and Close Mishaps. Psychol Sci 2012; 23:1215-23. [DOI: 10.1177/0956797612443831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 93] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Humor is ubiquitous and often beneficial, but the conditions that elicit it have been debated for millennia. We examine two factors that jointly influence perceptions of humor: the degree to which a stimulus is a violation (tragedy vs. mishap) and one’s perceived distance from the stimulus (far vs. close). Five studies show that tragedies (which feature severe violations) are more humorous when temporally, socially, hypothetically, or spatially distant, but that mishaps (which feature mild violations) are more humorous when psychologically close. Although prevailing theories of humor have difficulty explaining the interaction between severity and distance revealed in these studies, our results are consistent with the proposal that humor occurs when a violation simultaneously seems benign. This benign-violation account suggests that distance facilitates humor in the case of tragedies by reducing threat, but that closeness facilitates humor in the case of mishaps by maintaining some sense of threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- A. Peter McGraw
- Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado Boulder
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder
| | - Caleb Warren
- Department of Marketing, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi
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Hackney CH. The effect of mortality salience on the evaluation of humorous material. The Journal of Social Psychology 2011; 151:51-62. [PMID: 21375125 DOI: 10.1080/00224540903366735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The motivational aspects of humor are considered from the perspective of terror management theory, testing the hypothesis that exposure to the mortality salience manipulation will result in an alteration in participants' appreciation of humorous material. Participants rated several comic strips, indicating how funny they found the jokes. The differential relevance of various forms of jokes to the process of terror management was also examined by having participants rate their appreciation of jokes that address issues of varying applicability to existential concerns. Results indicate that mortality salience results in an exacerbation of the evaluation of humorous material, and that jokes' relative centrality to terror management processes produces differing evaluative responses. Theoretical and practical implications are examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles H Hackney
- Briercrest College and Seminary, 510 College Drive, Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada S0H 0S0.
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Gallois C, Callan VJ. THE INFLUENCE OF ETHNOCENTRISM AND ETHNIC LABEL ON THE APPRECIATION OF DISPARAGEMENT JOKES*. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2007; 20:63-76. [DOI: 10.1002/j.1464-066x.1985.tb00014.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Platow MJ, Haslam SA, Both A, Chew I, Cuddon M, Goharpey N, Maurer J, Rosini S, Tsekouras A, Grace DM. “It’s not funny if they’re laughing”: Self-categorization, social influence, and responses to canned laughter. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2005. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2004.09.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Alexander RD. Ostracism and indirect reciprocity: The reproductive significance of humor. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1986. [DOI: 10.1016/0162-3095(86)90052-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Zillmann D, Bryant J, Cantor JR. Brutality of assault in political cartoons affecting humor appreciation. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 1974. [DOI: 10.1016/0092-6566(74)90055-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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LaFave L, McCarthy K, Haddad J. Humor judgments as a function of identification classes: Canadian vs. American. THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 1973; 85:53-9. [PMID: 4768132 DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1973.9923860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
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La Fave L. Comment on Priest's article: "election jokes: the effects of reference group membership". Psychol Rep 1967; 20:305-6. [PMID: 6037814 DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1967.20.1.305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Priest maintains that all relevant studies prior to his own support a reference group theory of humor. However, only La Fave's experiment does unequivocally. Both the Wolff, Smith, and Murray and the Middleton experiments make methodological errors, acknowledged by the authors themselves, which render a reference group interpretation of their data debatable. However, these authors also furnish perceptive, post mortem analyses which suggest that, were their methodologies less inadequate, the reference group construct would have won support
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GOODRICH AT, HENRY J, GOODRICH DW. Laughter in psychiatric staff conferences: a sociopsychiatric analysis. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ORTHOPSYCHIATRY 1954; 24:175-184. [PMID: 13148312 DOI: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.1954.tb02006.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
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Van Order Smith N, Vinacke WE. Reactions to Humorous Stimuli of Different Generations of Japanese, Chinese, and Caucasians in Hawaii. The Journal of Social Psychology 1951. [DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1951.9919060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Sears RR, Hovland CI, Miller NE. Minor Studies of Aggression: I. Measurement of Aggressive Behavior. THE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 1940. [DOI: 10.1080/00223980.1940.9917694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
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