Humor research
Encyclopedia
Humor research is a multidisciplinary field which enters the domains of psychology
, philosophy
, linguistics
, sociology
, history
and literature
. More recently, computational humor
, a subdomain of the computer science
and artificial intelligence
emerged, which uses computers to model humor.
Functional Theories try to explain the purpose or function of humor—or, often, of laughter. This group would include Sigmund Freud
's (following Herbert Spencer
) relief theory and Alastair Clarke's recent suggestion that humor indicates pattern-recognition skills that are known to have survival value.
Stimulus Theories try to characterize what it is about certain things that makes them funny. This group would include Immanuel Kant
's incongruity theory and Victor Raskin
's linguistic (syntactic, pragmatic, semantic) theories.
Response Theories try to explain how or when we will find things funny. This group would include Thomas Hobbes′ superiority theory and modern research that quantifies the sense of humor.
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
. More recently, computational humor
Computational humor
Computational humor is a branch of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence which uses computers in humor research. It is not to be confused with computer humor ....
, a subdomain of the computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
emerged, which uses computers to model humor.
Topics
Humor research deals with a wide variety of issues but many of them can be categorized according to the major types of humor theories:Functional Theories try to explain the purpose or function of humor—or, often, of laughter. This group would include Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
's (following Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
) relief theory and Alastair Clarke's recent suggestion that humor indicates pattern-recognition skills that are known to have survival value.
- Sociological research (on the context that is required before things can be found funny, who jokes with whom, or the effects of humorous interaction on groups at work and elsewhere) and gelotologyGelotologyGelotology is the study of laughter and its effects on the body, from a psychological and physiological perspective. Its proponents often advocate induction of laughter on therapeutic grounds in complementary medicine. The field of study was pioneered by William F...
(the effects of laughter, especially health benefits) could probably be sorted under the heading of Functional, since they try to explain what humor (or, often, laughter) is "for."
Stimulus Theories try to characterize what it is about certain things that makes them funny. This group would include Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
's incongruity theory and Victor Raskin
Victor Raskin
Victor Raskin is a distinguished professor of linguistics at Purdue University. He is the author of Semantic Mechanisms of Humor and Ontological Semantics and founding editor of Humor, the journal for the International Society of Humor Studies.He is an associate director and founding faculty...
's linguistic (syntactic, pragmatic, semantic) theories.
- Decades of literary research (on what is funny and why) along with the collective knowledge of entertainers (on how to perform stand-up and other forms of comedy) could probably be sorted under the heading of Stimulus, since they try to explain what is and is not funny. This group should probably include computational humorComputational humorComputational humor is a branch of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence which uses computers in humor research. It is not to be confused with computer humor ....
(not to be confused with computer humor).
Response Theories try to explain how or when we will find things funny. This group would include Thomas Hobbes′ superiority theory and modern research that quantifies the sense of humor.
- Psychological research (on individual differences, who prefers what types of humor, and so forth) along with recent neurological studies on what happens in our brains as we are finding things funny could probably be sorted under the heading of Response, since they try to explain how and when we will find things funny.