Psychology of Humor (Part 2)

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by Anthony L. Audrieth
 
Because humor is such a powerful emotion, it is a good idea to understand (if that is possible), the psychological basis of humor. More specifically, what makes laughter and the humorous situation "work". Your assignment, from now on, is, when you hear people laugh, to ask yourself, "Why did they laugh"? This attention will sharpen your skills at recognizing possible material for your own use and help you get a feeling for what makes humor work.
The response of laughter is based on two general situations. Humor either plays a trick on the mind or it paints a picture which is ludicrous or incongruous. Jokes are the 1st type; they play a pleasant trick on your mind. When something is ludicrous, you visualize a situation in which the elements are in some way incongruous. A word of warning here. The minute you try to dissect a joke, or explain it, it ceases to be funny. You can study humor down to the most tenuous theories, reading what scientists have discovered about it through the years to the point where it may ruin your enjoyment of laughter. I recommend that you do read several books on the subject. The 1st should be "The Enjoyment of Laughter" by Max Eastman. He spends a fair amount of time on the psychology of humor, but leaves it up to the reader to delve further into the subject.....at their own risk. "The Enjoyment of Laughter" is a practical book as well as a serious study of humor and serves well as a starting point for your studies; a definite must for your new library. While it is out of print, you can find copies at used bookstores or on the Internet for around $30.00.
Dr. Jarvis shares two definitions of humor with us. The 1st is "a painful thing told playfully". The second is "tragedy separated by time and space". Note that both definitions treat humor as a serious thought viewed in a light manner. Ever heard someone say, "I laughed so hard I nearly cried"? Humor deals with serious subjects and is close to pathos: an emotion of sympathetic pity. Think about the old gag of someone slipping on a banana peel. Such an accident usually elicits a laugh. We might giggle or snicker when someone else takes a flyer. Perhaps though not when we ourselves are the victim. The laugh would be stopped mid-snort though if the person was hurt in the fall. Why? Because the playful element has been lost. Buster Keaton does a pratfall. Down he goes, but he must get up. Eastman talks about this at length, referring to the absolute necessity for the participants to be "in fun". Charlie talks at length about the feeling of being "in fun" so I've included Eastman's four laws of humor at this point. Understanding this concept and being able to perceive if an audience is "in fun" has a direct bearing on your use of humor.
Max Eastman presents four laws of humor, all related to the concept of being "in fun". My observations are in italics.
1. The first law is that things can be funny only when we are "in fun". There may be a serious thought or motive lurking underneath our humor. We may be only "half in fun" and still perceive things as funny. Ask yourself, "Is this audience "in fun"; do I dare use humor; can they be moved into "in fun""?
 
When an audience is "in fun", they will take your humor and words in a playful way and enjoy them as well. When however, they are "dead earnest" it is humor that is dead. Faced with an audience in such a mood, humor may require an extremely delicate and practiced application. Better to not try to get a laugh than have one flop in such a situation. You must be able to read your audience accurately.
2. The second law is that when we are "in fun", a peculiar shift of values takes place. Pleasant things are still pleasant, but disagreeable things, so long as they are not disagreeable enough to "spoil the fun", tend to acquire a pleasant emotional flavor and provoke a laugh. Someone who can think funny has the natural ability to see the humor in the painful lessons of life.
3. The third law is that being "in fun" is a condition most natural to childhood, and that children at play reveal the humorous laugh in its simplest and most omnivorous form. To them every untoward, unprepared for, unmanageable, inauspicious, ugly, disgusting, puzzling, startling, deceiving, shaking, blinding, jolting, deafening, banging, bumping, or otherwise shocking and disturbing thing, unless it be calamitous enough to force them out of the mood of play, is enjoyable as funny. Can something be said carelessly by a speaker that can move an audience out of "in fun"? A speaker must be aware of the mood of the audience at all times.
4. The fourth law is that grown-up people retain in varying degrees this aptitude for being in fun and thus enjoying unpleasant things as funny. But those not richly endowed with humor manage to feel a very comic feeling only when within, or behind or beyond, or suggested by, the playfully unpleasant thing, there is a pleasant one. Only then do they laugh uproariously like playing children. And they call this complicated thing or combination of things at which they laugh, a joke. Audiences made up of individuals who have retained in varying degrees the aptitude for being "in fun" provide the humorous speaker with a great challenge; that of reaching all present. Like Charlie says, some members of the audience are thinking, "OK Buster, lets see if you can make me laugh....... "
In regards to being "in fun", never were more illuminating words spoken about humor than those spoken by the hero of the Virginian. He said, "Smile when you say that!" In that case the difference between being "in fun" and not being "in fun" might have been a well-placed bullet. Eastman relates the feeling to the experience of wrestling around with a dog. You are rough-housing, wrestling, playing and all the while the dog's tail is wagging wildly; you know the dog is "in fun". Compare that to the demeanor of a strange dog guarding a strangers yard. That dog is not "in fun".
But, back to the psychology of humor. Considering that humor is a painful thing told playfully, we see that discomfort is a key element in the makeup of a joke. Often the discomfort of others. We may feel superior due to a momentary instance where others are placed in an embarrassing situation. For the speaker, that simple fact has important ramifications. You certainly do not want to make your audience or any particular member of the group feel inferior.
In breaking the ice and becoming a welcome speaker, there is no better way than to make yourself the butt of the joke. Self-effacing humor is always safe in that you appear human to your audience and you do not risk offending them in any way. So an excellent rule of thumb to follow is:

Play it safe, use self effacing humor.


To be continued on Part 3.