Verbal irony processing: How do contrast and humour correlate?

Verbal irony relies on contrast, that is, incongruity between the situational context and the ironic assertion. But is the degree of contrast related to the perceived humorousness of ironic comments? We answered this question by conducting two experiments. In the first experiment, participants were asked to read a list of sentence pairs (ironic or control) and judge the extent to which the meaning of the first sentence contrasted with that of the second. In the second experiment, participants were invited to rate the humorousness of ironic comments compared with their literal counterparts. Results showed that ironic remarks were rated as more contrasting and more humorous than their literal counterparts, but that humour only emerged from a moderate contrast.     

The effects of relationship context and modality on ratings of funniness

There is evidence to suggest that humour is an important part of mate choice and that humour may serve as an indicator of genetic quality. The current study investigated how rated funniness from a video clip was related to an individual’s attractiveness as a short-term or long-term partner. We additionally tested for the presence of an attractiveness halo effect on humour ratings by comparing ratings of funniness from video clips, audio-only presentations, and photographs. We found that funniness was most strongly correlated with attractiveness for short-term relationships, especially in videos of males. We also found that attractiveness was related to funniness ratings differently across video, audio-only clips, and photographs. Relative to their rated funniness in the audio-only condition, with no appearance cues, attractive individuals were rated as funnier in video clips than less attractive individuals. An additional study demonstrated that ratings of flirtatiousness and funniness were strongly correlated. Perceived similarity between producing humour and flirting may explain why humour is more preferable in a short-term partner as flirting may be seen to signal proceptivity. The effects of attractiveness on humour judgement may also be explained by an association with flirtation as flirting may be most enjoyable when directed by attractive individuals.     

A processing fluency-account of funniness: Running gags and spoiling punchlines

Earlier theories on humour assume that funniness stems from the incongruity resolution of the surprising punchline and thus an insight into the joke's meaning. Applying recent psychological theorising that insight itself draws on processing fluency being the ease and speed with which mental content is processed, it is predicted that increasing the fluency of processing the punchline of a joke increases funniness. In Experiments 1 and 2, significant nouns from the punchlines or from the beginnings of jokes were presented before a joke was rated in funniness. Pre-exposing punchline words 15 minutes and even only 1 minute before the eventual joke led to increased funniness ratings. In contrast, pre-exposing punchline words directly before a joke led to decreased funniness ratings. Furthermore, pre-exposing the beginning of a joke 1 minute before the joke had no effects on funniness. Experiment 3 ruled out exposure-facilitated punchline anticipation as alternative mechanism, and Experiment 4 replicated this fluency effect with typing font as manipulation. These findings also show that pre-exposing a punchline, which in common knowledge should spoil a joke, can actually increase funniness under certain conditions.     

The arc of the rope swing: humour,poetry, and spirituality in Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

This essay analyzes the classic American children’s novel, Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White, which tells of a sophisticated spider’s rescue of a piglet who is being prepared for slaughter. The ‘arc of the rope swing' refers to a rope swing enjoyed by children in the novel; it is also a metaphor for the way White holds opposing forces in tension. Most noteworthy is the tension between poetic language and humour in the novel; White uses both to convey a sense of ultimate goodness and trust-in-being. Poetic language sets a contemplative tone (‘poetic pauses’) and conveys spiritual themes, including delight, wonder at the beauty of the natural world, ‘divine discontent’ (yearning), memento mori, sorrow and hope. In contrast, White’s ‘gracious humour’ is fast-paced and entertaining; it keeps the novel from being too preachy or solemn. His humour includes 1) wordplay (including the juxtaposition of incongruous words and images; dramatic irony; and puns ), 2) comedic characters (Wilbur as lovable buffoon, Charlotte as incisive wisdom figure) and 3) satire (scorn for human gullibility, arrogance and poor treatment of animals). White sharply satirises human arrogance and demonstrates the value of humility (embodied in Charlotte and Wilbur). The article also contains brief summaries of Charlotte's Web and of White's biography, and it concludes with a substantial set of “talking points” for discussing the novel’s spiritual themes with children.     

Lift Up Your Hearts: Humour and Despair in Later Life

SUMMARY

According to Erikson, the homework of later life is integrity versus despair. The work of integrity is difficult, especially when faced with loss and grief, with the pain, suffering and anxiety that often accompany later life. However, it is also the case that humour accompanies the ageing process, and that elderly people laugh at all things associated with ageing right through to death. This paper explores the relationship between humour and despair in the task of integrity. It does so from the work of Kierkegaard, who argued that despair is a sign that we are spiritual beings. Humour comes from our responses to despair–either as giving in too easily and not attempting integrity at all, or as a willful defiance and denial of this task. Ageing humour is used to illustrate Kierkegaard's argument. Humour is then shown to function in various ways. It raises our sights when we too easily retreat into our perishing bodies. It earths us when we attempt to get too spiritual, and it gives us a glimpse of the larger framework of God's future out of which we are invited to live, and to “lift up our hearts.”     

What's so funny? Modelling incongruity in humour production†

Finding something humorous is intrinsically rewarding and may facilitate emotion regulation, but what creates humour has been underexplored. The present experimental study examined humour generated under controlled conditions with varying social, affective, and cognitive factors. Participants listed five ways in which a set of concept pairs (e.g. MONEY and CHOCOLATE) were similar or different in either a funny way (intentional humour elicitation) or a “catchy” way (incidental humour elicitation). Results showed that more funny responses were produced under the incidental condition, and particularly more for affectively charged than neutral concepts, for semantically unrelated than related concepts, and for responses highlighting differences rather than similarities between concepts. Further analyses revealed that funny responses showed a relative divergence in output dominance of the properties typically associated with each concept in the pair (that is, funny responses frequently highlighted a property high in output dominance for one concept but simultaneously low in output dominance for the other concept); by contrast, responses judged not funny did not show this pattern. These findings reinforce the centrality of incongruity resolution as a key cognitive ingredient for some pleasurable emotional elements arising from humour and demonstrate how it may operate within the context of humour generation.     

Compréhension et appréciation de l’humour : approche cognitivo-émotionnelle

According to Suls (1972), humor relies on the simultaneous perception of a situation from the perspective of two self-consistent but normally incompatible frames of reference, namely incongruity. The subsequent resolution of the incongruity triggers positive emotional states such as mirth. The aim of the present question review is to highlight that Suls’ theory, though crucial, is insufficient, because it does not sufficiently allow to identify the various assessment processes and the range of emotion that may arise. The present question review is based on four parts. The first part presents the Incongruity-Resolution's model and the supporting research. The second presents four sets of results, which cannot be interpreted in the narrow framework of Suls’ theory. The third part presents empirical research on emotion, highlighting the importance of surprise, as well as positive and negative emotions triggered by humor process. Finally, in the fourth part, we propose a cognitivo-emotional model established on the main results described in this article in order to both complete Suls’ theory and to promote the study of the relationship between the cognitive and emotional aspects of humor.     

Event-related potential (ERP) evidence for the differential cognitive processing of semantic jokes and pun jokes

Brain-imaging studies report that separate neural correlates are associated with processing of different types of humorous materials. However, such evidence lacks temporal information. In this study, we examined the temporal dynamics of humour comprehension between two types of jokes: semantic (SEMs) and pun (PUNs) jokes, using electroencephalographic (EEG) techniques. Thirty SEMs and 30 PUNs were presented to 16 healthy subjects, and their EEG data were concurrently recorded. PUNs consequently showed a larger N400 amplitude than did SEMs, without a specified scalp site, which implies that PUNs induce greater surprise and semantic violation. Meanwhile, SEMs induced a larger P600-like amplitude at the posterior site, which implies that, in order to understand SEMs, higher working memory loads are needed to form novel associations and successfully frame-shift. A possible explanation is the differing logical mechanisms used to understand SEMs and PUNs: the former builds on semantic relationships, the latter on phonological causality.     

Humour production may enhance observational learning of a new tool-use action in 18-month-old infants

Many studies have shown that making children laugh enhances certain cognitive capacities such as attention, motivation, perception and/or memory, which in turn enhance learning. However, no study thus far has investigated whether laughing has an effect on learning earlier in infancy. The goal of this study was to see whether using humour with young infants in a demonstration of a complex tool-use task can enhance their learning. Fifty-three 18-month-old infants participated in this study and were included either in a humorous or a control demonstration group. In both groups infants observed an adult using a tool to retrieve an out-of-reach toy. What differed between groups was that in the humorous demonstration group, instead of playing with the toy, the adult threw it on the floor immediately after retrieval. The results show that infants who laughed at the demonstration in the humorous demonstration group reproduced significantly more frequent target actions than infants who did not laugh and those in the control group. This effect is discussed with regard to individual differences in terms of temperament and social capacities as well as positive emotion and dopamine release.     

What is the temperamental basis of humour like in China? A cross-national examination and validation of the standard version of the state–trait cheerfulness inventory

The State–Trait Cheerfulness Inventory–trait version (STCI-T60) consists of three dimensions of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood integrated to measure the temperamental basis of the sense of humour. The present study replicated the three-dimensional factor structure of the STCI in China using 60 items consistent with other standard trait versions (e.g., English, Chilean-Spanish). Closer examination of associations between traits suggested bad mood showed curvilinear associations with both cheerfulness and seriousness, such that cheerfulness and bad mood were negatively associated for those low and average in trait bad mood but not for those with high trait bad mood. Seriousness was positively associated with bad mood at high levels of trait bad mood, but not at average or low levels of bad mood. Associations between the STCI traits and major personality dimensions, humour styles, and well-being were further examined. Cheerfulness and seriousness showed positive associations with satisfaction with life and emotional well-being (EWB) while bad mood showed a curvilinear association with EWB. Using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses, partial metric invariance was found between English and Chinese versions of the STCI-T60, but structural invariance was not observed. Implications based on the empirical literature in dialecticism and cross-cultural assessment were thoroughly discussed.