quote:Human humor is generally based on incongruity of some sort. (That's probably a subject for a whole new thread.)
So here it is.
My understanding is that humour evolved from an instinctive communication system, designed to warn other proto-humans of impending danger. As we became more intelligent and able to communicate non-instinctively we had no use for this system, so it was subject to random evolution (!) for a long period of time, leading to what we have now.
And incongruity is a big part of it, yes. Probably because, to a less intelligent being, something incongruous is probably something dangerous.
I don't have any references to back any of this up, and I'm sure there are competing theories too. What do you reckon?
posted
At first blush, I would guess that it is more of a stress release mechanism than a warning of danger...but it also serves to indicate good humor
Seriously, our play instinct is closely tied to our sense of humor. Mammals need to play in order for the young to learn the adaptive skills needed for survival. Laughter serves as a signal that something is being done in jest. It also signals that anger isn't present. So to laugh about something is to indicate that it isn't dangerous...to the one laughing, at least
posted
How do you think inappropriate laughter ties into this? I can remember being in situations, when I was younger, where I was in trouble and laughed at my mom. And I desperately did not want to.
Or the times when someone has an accident and one laughs even while being really worried about them?
posted
My seven-year-old suffers from that kind of nervous laughter, Mary. Her father scolds her and she cracks up, even as she's stammering apologies in wide-eyed horror. It used to make him really angry, until I explained to him that it is a stress releasing mechanism, over which children especially have little control. Posts: 338 | Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Human humor? In comparison to what, ant humor?
The quote from me at the beginning is from a message in which I posited alien beings with a completely different basis for humor. That's why I had the qualifier "human" in there.
Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Honestly, I recon (macro)evolution is a bunch of bunk. So I don't think humor evolved, at least not in that sense. My guess is we've always had it, though it shapes itself differently in different cultures, based on experiences common to those cultures.
It seems different things are funny in different ways. Irony can be funny. Allusion to previously funny situations. Sometimes just the unexpected.
posted
As regards "human humor", all mammals have a sense of play or "fun". Ants, quite naturally, do not have any such sense. But among mammals, every species has something that corresponds roughly to what we would think of as "smiling" or "laughing". These innate signals are necessary to allow "play", without which young animals would not know whether others felt genuinely threatened.
As a nice side effect, laughing does diffuse stress, by allowing an animal to not take a situation seriously.
This is one reason that we laugh at incongruity...faced with a situation that doesn't make sense taken seriously, we need to laugh. But we don't laugh only or even primarily at cognitive incongruity. We also laugh in relief when an apparent danger is past, or when we meet someone that we feel very comfortable around. We also deliberately laugh, to communicate consciously that we do not feel threatened.
Nervous laughter is an interesting example. Not only when danger has actually passed, but also when there is nothing that can be done about it, the laughter response will often be triggered. Thus "hysterical laughter" (which is not caused by the uterus, as was once thought) is frequently a response when someone is exposed to prolonged danger and can't do anything about it.
posted
I think ants have a sense of humor, but it is totally incomprehensible to us. I've seen them running in circles for no reason. I enjoy stupid jokes. The best thing in the world is when I find a fork in the road. (the kind you eat with. it's only happened twice.) Thing that are dang funny to me seem to physically hurt other people. For example this is my best joke, "Two guys walk into a bar, the bartender says 'hey I just washed that!'"
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