Humor%20Theories

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Humor Theories

• by Don L. F. Nilsen and
• Alleen Pace Nilsen

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WHIMSY
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Whimsical Don and Alleen
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(No Transcript)
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Allen Kleins Good Humor
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THE NATURE OF HUMOR

• FEATURES CHARACTERISTICS
• FUNCTIONS THE PURPOSE(S)
• SUBJECTS THE TOPIC(S)

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AN IMPORTANT FEATURE OF HUMOR IS INCONGRUITY AND
INCONGRUITY RES0LUTION

• Consider an umbrella in a severe rain and wind
  storm.
• We feel tension until we put things rightat
  least in our minds eyeas with the kitten on the
  next slide.

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Another Example of Incongruity and Incongruity
Resolution
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Machinification Monorail LOL Cat
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Other Features of Humor

• Ambiguity
• Exaggeration
• Understatement
• Hostility
• Incongruity or Irony
• Situation-Insight
• Sudden Insight

• Superiority
• Surprise or Shock
• Tension and Relief
• A Trick or Twist
• Word Play
• Visual Imagery

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Metaphor Pool Table

• Features
• Ambiguity
• Sudden Insight
• Surprise
• Visual Imagery
• Word Play

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Pun Eye Pod

• Features
• Ambiguity
• Incongruity
• Surprise
• Visual Imagery
• Word Play

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Philosopher Thomas Hobbess Superiority Theory
said that we laugh at someone elses inferiority.

• Later philosophers, including Frances Hutcheson,
  argued that what we are really laughing about is
  incongruity.
• We dont go to asylums to laugh at the inferior
  beings, nor do we laugh at animals unless they
  resemble human beings.
• We laugh at someone who slips on a banana peel
  not because we feel superior, but because of the
  incongruity between our expectations and the
  sudden insight.
• And if the person who slips on a banana peel is
  pretentious, and is not seriously injured, we
  laugh even harder.

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The Rule of Three is another common feature of
humor illustrated in this cartoon.
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Another Rule of Three Joke
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Incongruity and Incongruity Resolution
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Dog-Related Incongruityand Incongruity Resolution
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Functions of Humor

• PSYCHOLOGICAL
• To amuse
• To establish superiority
• To gain control
• To persuade
• To save face
• To test limits
• To inbond/outbond

• INTELLECTUAL
• To amuse
• To teach
• To make connections
• To compare two scriptsone metaphorical, one
  straight-forward

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An Important Literary Function relates to Double
Entendre.

• Salvatore Attardo and Victor Raskin say that the
  text of a joke is always more or less compatible
  with two distinct scripts and the two scripts are
  opposed to each other in a special way.
• It is often the punch line that triggers the
  switch from the mundane script to the dramatic
  script.
• The punch line makes the hearer backtrack and
  realize that a different interpretation of the
  joke was possible from the very beginning.

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A Real-Life Example of the Usefulness of Two
Scripts
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Accidental humor occurs when the creator and the
receiver have different scripts in mind.
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The impossibility in this picture causes tension,
until we realize that it is a joke.
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The Function of Disparaging Oneself.

• On the surface, Self Disparagement appears to be
  humbling oneself, but the mock-humility really
  puts the speaker in a position of power as in
  these commercials
• Terminex Pest Control When you think of pests,
  think of us.
• Twist Lemon-Menthol Cigarettes Our new menthol
  is a lemon.

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• Champion International Trend Carpet Eight
  million people walked all over us. And they
  dont even know our name.
• Quaker Oats as a diet food Quaker Oats
  Breakfast of losers.
• Simmons bunk beds Simmons beds are a lot of
  bunk.

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Educators Use Humor To

• Relax Students
• Teach Facts
• Argue and Persuade
• Teach Vocabulary Concepts
• Teach Careful Observation
• Model Problem Solving

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This Egg-to-Bird picture first causes tension,
followed by a smile of relief as we catch on.

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Real vs. Unreal

• This is an amusing lesson in careful observation.
• What are the clues that it is a painting?
• Were such paintings precursors to todays
  PhotoShop fun?

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JONATHAN WINTERS--STICK PROP

• http//biggeekdad.com/2013/04/jonathan-winters-sti
  ck/.UXfWSphGZzg.email

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SUBJECTS OF HUMOR

• We joke about the subjects that we hesitate to
  talk about.
• To test out the attitudes of new friends, we
  often send up trial balloons disguised as
  jokes.

• TABOO SUBJECTS
• Ethnic Identification
• Politics
• Sexual Roles and Scatology
• Occupations
• Religion and Belief Systems

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What subjects do the two fish shapes on this car
speak to?
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Jokes Reveal Current Areas of Social Discomfort

• OLD TABOOS
• Vulgarities
• Swear Words
• Body Parts
• Sex
• Religion
• Obscenities

• NEW TABOOS
• Lack of Patriotism
• GLBTQ Issues
• Disabilities
• Ethnicities
• Old People

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Hot Potato HumorBased on Metaphors
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Canadians joke that this maple leaf design is
really Jack and Jacque arguing over English vs.
French.
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Humor TheoryThe Sciences vs. The Humanities
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(No Transcript)
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Hate Speech Vs. Humor

• The subject matter that people choose to joke
  about goes a long ways in determining whether
  they are using humor as a release of moderate
  levels of discomfort, or whether they are really
  engaging in hate-speech disguised as humor.
• The important question to ask is whether the
  humor is used to weaken the target or strengthen
  the target.
• M.I.C.H. (Moderate Intergroup Conflict Humor) is
  a humor theory that stresses moderation. Tension
  is necessary, but not too much.

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Humane Humor Rules

• Never target the victim.
• Dont joke too soon about tragedies.
• Never target a quality the target cant change.
• Target only a persons best qualities, not their
  worst qualities.
• Joke only about your own gender, ethnicity,
  religion, appearance, etc.
• If you want to hurt or disempower someone, then
  break all of these rules. Use the following
  rule What would Trump do?

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In conclusionHere are two paradigm Shifts