Have you heard the Joke … I’m doing a study about the nature of humour … Ok it’s not funny, but isn’t that in itself funny? Have you any idea what makes one thing humorous and another not?
So, here’s a few of the accepted theories of humour. And I will attempt to create a joke to test these various theories (some less credible than others). please add comments at the end.
Relief theory – suggests laughter is a release of tension.
Joke: Have you heard WUWT is closing down – at least that’s what NOAA said.
Superiority theory – that a person laughs about misfortunes of others
Joke: Did you hear the Sierra club president – and the long pause!
Incongruity theory – states that humor is perceived when we perceive how things are not “as they ought to be”
Joke: Mann & Steyn were dancing cheek to cheek – then Mann woke up.
Script-based Semantic Theory of Humour
To produce the humour of a verbal joke, Raskin posits, the following 2 conditions must be met:
- The text is compatible, fully or in part, with two different [semantic] scripts
- The two scripts with which the text is compatible are opposite […]. The two scripts with which the text is compatible are said to overlap fully or in part on this text.”[22]
Humour is evoked when a trigger at the end of the joke, the punch line, causes the audience to abruptly shift its understanding from the primary (or more obvious) script to the secondary, opposing script.
Joke: A sceptic and a climate extremist were arguing on a busy road – then suddenly god came along. The extremist said: “Look here’s someone who will tell you I’m right”. So the climate extremist approach god and demanded: “tell that sceptic I’m right”.
“I really don’t want to do that”. Said God.
But the extremist wouldn’t stop and kept demanding that God tell the Sceptic he was right.
God kept saying he would rather not. But then the extremist started yelling and cursing and demanding God put the sceptic right.
So, eventually God Told the Sceptic.”He’s right”
Then he said to the alarmist.: “You’re right – fossil fuel powered transport will send you to a fiery hell”.
Computational-Neural Theory of Humor
Joke: This theory says that laughter is triggered when we have to remove a false set of information from memory because we suddenly realise it is false. (OK, it’s not a joke – but according to the theory you will now laugh – Ha ha!)
Sexual Selection
That being able to tell jokes is a bit like the peacocks feathers – no good for reproduction – because they are only good for tickling your fancy.
Detection of mistaken reasoning
Joke: Global warming (you must be in fits of laughter?)
Benign Violation Theory
Predicts that humor occurs when three conditions are satisfied:
- something threatens one’s sense of how the world “ought to be”,
- the threatening situation seems benign, and
- a person sees both interpretations at the same time.
Joke: I love 6.9 – especially when there’s no point to it.
Humour as defence mechanism
Joke: Two lukewarmers and a sceptic were being lined up for execution by the captain of the “global warming inquisition”.
The commander asked if they had any final wish.
The first stepped forward and said: “I want to make a statement about the lack of apparent warming”. He made a very long statement about the lack of warming, the lack of any trends and the corruption and fraud and was then shot.
The second stepped forward and said he should be allowed to keep on with his studies because as he said: “I want to learn everything there is to know about the world”. The commander said: “well you can ask god in a minute” and he was then shot.
Then the commander turned to sceptic and said: “so what your last request”? To which the sceptic grinned and said: “I would just like to know one thing: why did you bring a gun with only two bullets?”
