Preview

Why We Laugh

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
439 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why We Laugh
Humour is a subject that has attracted the attention and interest of some of our greatest minds, from Aristotle and Kant to Freud. It has also fascinated and played an important part in the work of some of the greatest writers such as Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde.

However, curiously, after thousands of years spent trying to understand humour, there is still a great deal of controversy about what humour is or why something is funny. There are some interesting theories, though, on this matter.

For Aristotle, comedy is based on “an imitation of men worse than the average,” of people who are “ridiculous”. Hobbes carried the same idea a bit further. He said, “the passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from a sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly.”

There is another theory that is probably the most important and most widely accepted of the explanations of humour. This theory argues that all humour involves some kind of a difference between what one expects and what one gets.

One of the more interesting and controversial theories of humour stems from the work of Freud. The psychoanalytic theory of humour argues that humour is essentially masked aggression which gives us gratifications we desperately crave. As Freud wrote in his classic book—Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious— “and here at last we can understand what it is that jokes achieve in the service of their purpose. They make possible the satisfaction of an instinct (whether lustful or hostile) in the face of an obstacle that stands in its way.”

Freud also recounts a number of wonderful Jewish jokes in his book and alludes to the remarkable amount of self-criticism found in jokes which all Jews tell about themselves. “Incidentally,’ he wrote, “I do not know whether there are many other instances of a people making fun of such a degree of its own character”. His use of the word “fun” is

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Aristotle articulated a definition of humor in which people laugh at weird or deranged people. Another example can be with Native Americans. For their interpretation of humor, they made people act like young and foolish kids with erratic behaviors. Archeological digs from Holland also expose that humor was used to relieve emotional tension. At this point Rappaport is trying to persuade us that humor has had a long history, and the definition fluctuates with time and people.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Humor appear’s to help people’s psychological and physical well being.” It says in Peter McGraw’s essay “The Importance of Humor Research.” It has been proven that it is good for your body to react in such a way to a funny situation but the psychological portion of it is hard to understand. When someone laughs, endorphins are released from the brain and are sent throughout the body creating the feeling of pleasure. It is a healthy alternative to any negative situation, whether it be negative or awkward it can be made easier with a joke here or…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humorists

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In his 2004 book, Status Anxiety, Alain De Botton argues that the chief aim of humorists is not merely to entertain but to convey with impunity, messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly. He believes humorists are allowed by society to say things that others won’t or do not want to express, thus serving a vital role in a functioning society.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alain de Botton’s wrote in his book Status Anxiety, “the role of the humorist and the satirical material they provide is essential to the functioning of society today” (Botton, Status Anxiety). Botton’s opinion of the humorists in today’s society is that they are the voice of the people, being allowed to say things that most people can’t or won’t say about their own lives. To do this, these humorists use many techniques, one of the more famous ones being the ever changing technique of satire.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Irony: Purpose Of Satire

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Satire is set apart form other literature by its fairly limited range of techniques. The essence of satire is wit, the power of giving pleasure by combining or contrasting ideas. Wit was originally defined as “mind,” then as “cleverness,” but now suggests the speech/writing that delights by its…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The sense of humor is one of the most powerful tools we have. People who without a sense of humor may find themselves belittled, mocked, or treated as stupid, leading to anxiety and depression. A good sense of humor is just like weapon, and it can beat the difficult situations in many ways.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The article “Solve That Problem with Humor” by William D. Ellis discusses the importance of humor. He begins by pointing out that being funny is a better way to win arguments. Ellis further argues that humor can be used to solve many other everyday complicated situations that we face in relationships, for example, giving constructive feedback. Later in the article, Ellis talks about how a funny joke is the greatest way to reduce conflict and help to let the people guard down. By the end of the article, Ellis discusses the idea that in some rare situation joking can save people from darkness. In Viktor E Frankl’s experience stated that joking support him to go through the tough time. The most significant idea in this article is humor…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Algernon: “Anyone can play accurately – but I play with wonderful expression”. – This is following Aristotle’s theory that comedy is laughing at those less fortunate than you. Algernon does not realise the ridiculousness of the statement, as he is not used to people correcting him or telling him what he is saying is wrong. It is funny for the audience, because they understand how ridiculous what he is saying is, and it is comic that he doesn’t understand it for himself and feels he is making a proud, intelligent statement.…

    • 2155 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Humour has been a subject of intellectual discussion for thousands of years dating back to the days of Aristotle in ancient Greece. It has been used to tell stories, entertain, express one's perspective and in some cases humour is used in an offensive or insulting way. With the increasing amount of globalization the debate of whether racial and ethnic humour is harmful or beneficial to modern day society has become very prominent. Racial and Ethnic humour has the possibility to have an overall positive effect on society if there is an increase in studying and researching the influence that humour has on individuals, certain groups and society as a whole.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Humour and Leadership

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How do we define humour? Humour is a verbal or nonverbal activity eliciting a positive cognitive or affective response from listeners and must be connected to context in order to be truly funny. The definition includes puns, jokes, stories, anecdotes, physical actions etc (Meyer, 1990). According to Sarros and Barker (2003), humour is the ability to invoke laughter or see the funny side of a painful predicament. In their study of Australian managers, Sarros and Barker (2003) established that the character attribute of humour was rated the second highest behind integrity.…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sense of Humor

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages

    What is a Sense of Humor? Is it something we all need in life? Is it a bad thing to have it or a good thing? According to the dictionary and resources of online a Sense of Humor is the ability to perceive humor or appreciate a joke. Well I say that definition is vague, not enough proof to help what does it really means. I’m proving that there is more to explain what a sense of humor is. In my own definition I say that a sense of humor is being able to express the humorous, but there is more to that.…

    • 725 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sense of Humour Essay

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Every day as I walk around and talk to people, I notice that a lot of people exclude humor in their life. This probably means that their definition for “sense of humor” is a lot different from mine. I do not understand how someone can go every day without laughing or seeing the beauty of humor is everything. Being humorous is an art.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Bibliography: Billig, M. (2005). Laughter and Ridicule – Towards a Social Critique of Humour. London: Sage.…

    • 2697 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Joke

    • 3209 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Arthur Koestler, in The Act of Creation (1964), analyses humour and compares it to other creative activities, such as literature and science.…

    • 3209 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    ComedicEffect

    • 1495 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Often taken lightly, comedies are seen as works of literature meant to lift spirits and change the mood of an audience. Although what a passive audience doesn’t realize is that when taken seriously, a comedy can have a very powerful effect on society. It has the ability to teach us through our own laughter. The author of a comedy uses our funny bones against us in a well-thought out scheme to get us to change the way we may think about something. We laugh at what is wrong, correct ourselves, and then attempt to correct the problem in our everyday lives. In this way, comedy can spark a change in a society by altering the way that society’s citizens see what is right and what is wrong based on what an author is trying to teach us.…

    • 1495 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays