A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. The theory was sketched in lord shaftesburys 1709 essay an essay on the freedom of wit and humor, the first publication in which humor is used in its modern sense of funniness. This book begins by defining humor and presenting theories of humor. Most of the humour theories ever proposed are actually mixed theories, and many contemporary researchers believe that humour in its totality is too huge and multiform a phenomenon to be incorporated into a single integrated theory. Scientists at the time knew that nerves connect the brain with the sense organs and muscles, but they thought that nerves carried animal spiritsgases and liquids such as air and blood. Most humor and laughter imply a social relationship, a connection between self and other. Therefore, the goal of finding a precise scientific formula for funny remains elusive. Humor theories jokes humour free 30day trial scribd. The first third or so of this course was spent discussing some major philosophical theories of humor hobbes, kant, bergson and. This research investigates the many definitions of humor, the philosophy and production of humor, why laughter occurs, humor theories, elements of what makes something funny, and where humor lives in dance. There are 3 main theories used to explain the functions of humor.
In cartoons, meaning and humor are produced either via two semiotic modes, the verbal and the visual, or solely via the visual mode. Several major theories claim to comprehensively explain how humor originates. Humor theory little audrey jokes emerged 1930s basic format. Philosophy of humor stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. The semantic foundations of cognitive theories of humor in.
The semantic foundations of cognitive theories of humor. Three theories of humor cre ation emerge in humor research. A comprehensive philosophy of humor develops an inclusive theory that integrates psychological, aesthetic, and ethical issues relating to humor. Both words were medical terms referring temperament or disposition. There are many theories of humor which attempt to explain what humor is, what social functions. Finally, researchers who have investigated humor as a disposition have studied individuals reactions to humor, humor appreciation, or humor comprehension. Humor theories free download as powerpoint presentation. Questions for a theory of humor wiley online library. Pdf linguistic theories of humor wladyslaw chlopicki. The main theories of humor psychoanalytic, superiority, arousal, incongruity and reversal theories, but also cultural and. Little audrey is involved in some terrible catastrophe but always finds some humor in every situation. Several major theories claim to comprehensively explain how humor originates in the minds of those experiencing it. Defining humor, theories, and where is it in dance. Sociological approaches to the study of humor springerlink.
In order to ensure broad coverage of the rel evant literature, i will use the term sense of humor in the widest sense, as a sort of catchall term to refer to habitual. As is widely known, theories of humour are traditionally divided in three branches. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. David hector monro 19112001 pdf, professor of philosophy at monash.
Humor theories the evolution theories as proposed by charles darwin, and by the i. By reflecting on various approaches to the study of political humors content, audience, and impact, this chapter offers scholars. The best jokes, riddles, tongue twisters, knockknock jokes, and. The journal publishes original contributions in areas such as interdisciplinary humor research, humor theory, and humor. Reveals how standard theories of humor fail to explain its true nature and actually support traditional prejudices against humor as being antisocial. The humorisgoodforyou theories as proposed by norman cousins, et. The superiority theory plato, aristotle, hobbes, the relief theory spencer, freud and the incongruity theory cicero, kant, schopenhauer, kierkegaard. When we experience humor, we focus mostly on positive affects, though, apparently in a paradoxical manner, laugh. The second section will explore a number of topics which could be related to the evolution of humor 1 animal models, 2 genetics, 3 childrens humor, 4.
Theories of humor project gutenberg selfpublishing. In addition, some linguistic theories based on humor, such as general theory of verbal humor 7 and ontological semantic theory of humor 170, are also available. In the literature on humor and laughter it is customary to distinguish between three classical theories. Ian here the following is a lesson plan for a day spent discussing henri bergsons theory of humor in my course comedy and the moving image. For centuries politicians, citizens, and elites have marveled at and even feared its powerfuland magicalinfluence on public opinion. Wit and humor psychological aspects, wit and humor therapeutic use publisher burlington, ma. The superiority theories as proposed by aristotle, plato, thomas hobbes, henri bergson, and charles gruner the incongruity theories as proposed by immanuel kant, arthur. This article is just for the theories of humor, not theories on the analysis of literature. Three classical theories of humor dominate philosophical and psychological discussions. Theories of humor in the wider sense are attempts to solve this problem.
Offers an enlightening and accessible foray into the serious business of humor. The word humor actually comes from two words, the latin word umor and the in medieval word humor, meaning fluid. Toward an empirical verification of the general theory of verbal humor pdf. Linguistic theories of humor approaches to semiotics salvatore attardo on free shipping on qualifying offers.
This theory accounts for the differences between intentional and unintentional humor while creating a structure for the identification of humorous utterances. A jocular event typically requires a minimum of two persons to succeedor, for that matter, to fail. The capacity to express or perceive whats funny, humor, is both a source of entertainment and a means of coping with difficult or awkward situations and stressful events. Discover the best theories of humor in best sellers. Among the prevailing types of theories that attempt to account for the existence of humor, there are psychological theories, the vast majority of which consider humor to be very healthy behavior. As both an art form and a mode of persuasive discourse, the use of political humor dates back to ancient greece and rome. Humor, the official publication of the international society for humor studies ishs, was established over 25 years ago as an international interdisciplinary forum for the publication of highquality research papers on humor as an important and universal human faculty. A fourth type of theory, which takes the central feature of humor to be ambivalence, a mingling of. In the initial theory, raskin 1985 proposed an exclusively semantic theory where he stated that humor was based on the opposition of two different semantic scripts. In 2004, a nobel prize was awarded for the discovery that the olfactory system recognizes smells by recognizing a combinatorial code in the firing combinations of its smell receptors. There are many theories of humor which attempt to explain what humor is, what social functions it serves, and what would be considered humorous.
This dissertation offers a theory of the strategic use of rhetorical humor in political discourse. Humor theories because of the multilayered nature of humor, no single humor theory has been. The definition and theories of humor are delineated in order to provide understanding of the use of the word humor throughout the document. So this english professor comes into class and starts talking about the textual organization o. The semantic foundations of cognitive theories of humor the semantic foundations of cognitive theories of humor this article argues for a parallelism between the foundations ofthe general theory of verbal humor and the incongruityresolution models. Monros theories of humor michigan state university. Due to their condensed form and to the interaction between language and image, cartoons are often considered to be a direct and easy to process means of communicating a. The recurring themes within the articles show that humor has a positive effect on the audiences. So this english professor comes into class and starts talking about the textual organization of jokes, the taxonomy of puns, the relations between the linguistic form and the content of humorous texts, and other past. Pdf the wellknown theories are the incongruity theory, the relief theory, and the superiority theory and i only discuss the first two theories. These theories of humor help explain what elicits humor socially, culturally and psychologically, but with broad brush strokes, rather than a fine point pen. Humor as a doubleedged sword oxford academic journals. The general theory of verbal humor gtvh was born in 1991, when attardo and raskin carried out a joint based semantic theory of humor attardo 2008.
Linguistic theories of humour attardo pdf attardo, salvatore. Pdf humor theories and the physiological benefits of. One of the oldest andmost developed theories of humor adopted by kant, refined by schopenhauer is, roughly,that humor happens when there is an incongruity between what we expect and. While these theories focus on the specific role that humor plays for people in situations such as dealing with misfortune, making sense of rule violations, and bonding with others, we propose that underlying each of these theories are the. Humour and linguistic theories is a conditional name for the theories i aim to introduce here. Just as one cannot tickle oneself, so, too, one can hardly tell oneself a joke or play a prank on oneself. The incongruity phase is found to correspond to the script opposition knowledge resource and the resolution phase is argued to be identical to the. Elsevier academic press collection americana digitizing sponsor internet archive contributor. Literature is its own field, and the workings of humor in literature needs its own article. A theory of humor does the brain contain separate functional regions. Superiority theory, the relief theory, and the incongruity theory. Humor theories and the physiological benefits of laughter. Including analysis of literature here would cause the article to become bloated. Imagine the existence of such brain regions with the ability to learn, remember, recognize, and transmit information about specific functions.
529 586 506 196 880 12 1476 852 657 433 19 1263 887 226 43 281 161 458 815 135 884 1505 312 1415 1232 711 1292 1100 822 631 1012 1256 427 1365 777 980 1030