Science of humor and laughter May 17, 2015
以前、教科書編集でユーモアと笑いをトピックとして取り上げたことがありました。以下は、一番初期の段階のドラフトです。これに編集を加えていって、最終形に仕上げていきました。専門用語を削って、ジョークをフィーチャーしてという感じです。
Introduction
Some jokes . . . .
Theories of humor and laughter
When Deborah Solomon, writing for The New York Times Magazine asked comedian Chris Rock what's funny, he replied, "You want to know what's not funny? Thinking about it". Philosophizing about what we consider funny has gone on for thousands of years. Plato and Aristotle could be thought of as the godfathers of funny philosophy, and many great thinkers since their time, including Freud, Kant and Kierkegaard, have contributed to the comedic conversation. Three primary theories of humor have consequently emerged and serve as the intellectual foundation for funny:
Superiority theory: Espoused by Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Hobbes, the superiority theory of humor focuses on the darker side of comedy. Specifically, that we laugh in response to our elevation over others' unfortunate situations or social standings. An often-cited quote from Thomas Hobbes' "Human Nature" sums up this greater-than/lesser-than dichotomy at the heart of superiority theory: "the passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly". In other words, we're always laughing at other people's expense.
Relief theory: Sigmund Freud perceived laughter and humor as a form of release, which he wrote about in "Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious". Deriving humor from a joke is a way humans outwardly funnel energy from sexual repression, pent up emotions or intellectualizing. If the relief theory held water, however, we might expect the crime rate to be much lower and every comedy at the Cineplex to bring in blockbuster crowds.
Incongruity theory: Immanuel Kant and Sǿren Kierkegaard believed that finding something funny revolves around derailed expectations. An effective punch line must be unpredictable and take us by surprise. In "Critique of Judgment", Kant explains it this way: "Laughter is an affectation arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing". Modern-day "incongruity-resolution" theories work from this basic premise of presenting situational contrasts and unpredictable resolutions as the bedrock of humor.
Today's humor research draws on elements of these primary theories and remixes them. For instance, the Benign Violation theory of humor developed by a team of psychologists at the University of Colorado Boulder explains funny as a series non-threatening violations of social norms. Essentially, a joke should violate some sort of cultural practice or value, but at a safe psychological distance to where the humor doesn't become too "real" for the audience. Flagrantly racist and sexist jokes, for instance, can quickly sour a comedy routine.
These theories of humor help explain what elicits humor socially, culturally and psychologically, but with broad brush strokes, rather than a fine point pen. Therefore, the goal of finding a precise scientific formula for funny remains elusive. . . .
Psychology in general has been interested to greater or a lesser degree (rather lesser) in humor for over 100 years now (beginning with Freud’s Jokes and their relation to the unconscious in 1905) and the last twenty to thirty years shown a real outbreak of numerous humor research and theories. However, the scientific study of humor has never made it to the mainstream. And no wonder. Even the “normal” people (i.e. not psychologists but the average internet users) mean so many different things when they think about humor. Below Google autocomplete examples (illustrating what phrases related to humor are searched the most for):
Bizarre…
Rod A. Martin was faced this complexity when writing his extensive and integrative book about the psychology of humor. Here’s an elegant definition he came up with:
“From a psychological perspective, the humor process can be divided into four essential components: (1) a social context, (2) a cognitive-perceptual process, (3) an emotional response, and (4) the vocal-behavioral expression of laughter.” (Martin, 2007, p. 5)
I also often add two other elements to the definition: (5) cultural phenomenon and (6) individual style or preference.
Although culture is undoubtedly very closely related to the social context of humor, it is worthwhile to separate it from social psychology, i.e. study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by others (Allport, 1985). The interest for humor seen as cross-cultural phenomenon is growing (Ruch & Forabosco, 1996; Cheng, 2003; Bell, 2007; Bell & Attardo, 2010; etc.) and the studies within this field often have different approach than those related to social psychology (with focus on language, history and cross-cultural interaction).
Humor seen as an individual style or preference, on the other hand, reflects one of the common-sense conceptions of humor, i.e. as in the “sense of humor”. There is a considerate body of literature discussing individual differences in how people use humor in social interactions (e.g. Martin et al., 2003) and what kind of humorous content they prefer (Ruch, 1988).
Humans are a pretty laugh-happy group. A professor at the University of Western Ontario calculated that the average person chuckles, guffaws or snickers 17.5 times per day. How does that laughter happen? What buttons does a comment or comedic situation need to push in order to coax a cackle? Thanks to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, neurologists have a pretty good idea of how the brain finds something funny.
A team of scientists at Dartmouth hooked study participants up to an fMRI machine and watched what lit up during episodes of "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons". Although the people might not have laughed out loud at Kramer's antics or Bart's sassy responses, the fMRI provide a sneak peek into how we process comedic material. In that experiment, the researchers detected a two-part detection and appreciation process. Joke detection occurred in the left inferior frontal and posterior temporal cortices on the left side of the brain. The left side of the brain helps us sort through novel or unexpected information and cross-reference it to information already stored in our memories. Going back to the incongruity theory mentioned earlier, this brain function helps us make sense of situational contrasts and their unexpected resolutions -- i.e., the jokes. Once our brains process the content of the joke, the appreciation happens in the insular cortex and amygdala, which help regulate our emotions. . .
Similar MRI and fMRI experimentation indicates that verbal jokes and pratfalls require preliminary language processing, although different types involve different brain areas in the left hemisphere. For example, semantic jokes characterized by incongruity and resolution ("How do you keep an elephant from charging? Take away his credit card activate the temporal lobe that helps our brains sort through ambiguous or contrasting information and outcomes. Meanwhile, puns energize Broca's area, the brain's language control center. Well-known jokes of the "Guy walks in a bar…" variety jolt the brain's frontal lobe, which is associated with higher cognitive functioning. A separate study also found that frontal lobe damage impairs people's ability to understand punch lines, causing those patients to prefer lower-brow slapstick comedy.
After this mental workout, our brains offer a reward for enjoying a punch line. If something tickles our funny bones, our brains deliver shots of pleasure-inducing dopamine, via the amygdala. That dopamine link also explains why it's hard to laugh at anything when we're down in the dumps. When the mesolimbic reward system turns off the dopamine valve, our moods and senses of humor tend to diminish in suit. But when we do crack up, neurons called spindle cells further assist in the funny-making monkey business by transmitting the delighted emotion across the brain.
Given these neurological patterns, finding that secret algorithm for funny might seem like a no-brainer. Figure out what elements -- two guys walking into a bar, a chicken crossing a road, a knock-knocking at a door -- delight these brain regions and create comedy gold from there. But one interesting finding in the neurology of humor indicates why the scientific formula for funny probably doesn't exist.
A 2004 study from Washington University School of Medicine compared the brain's humor pathways among male and female participants. The fMRI scans revealed that both sexes exhibited similar action in the temporal lobes as their brains sorted through semantic knowledge and processed the language to find the funny. However, female brains spend more time picking apart the verbiage and derived a more potent mesolimbic -- a.k.a. reward -- response when they hit the punch line. That small-scale study hinted that men and women possess distinct, gender-related funny meters. While women might not laugh at a joke as quickly as men, they'll laugh harder when they're genuinely amused.
Empirical research on humor and laughter
New research suggests that humor can improve short-term memory in older adults. In a recent small study conducted at Loma Linda University in Southern California, 20 normal, healthy, older adults watched a funny video distraction-free for 20 minutes, while a control group sat calmly with no video. Those who got to laugh the 20 minutes away with the funny video scored better on short-term memory tests, researchers said. And salivary levels of the stress hormone cortisol -- a memory enemy of sorts -- were significantly decreased in the humor group.
Social aspects of humor and laughter
・笑いの性差？
Gender differences in laughter behavior and humor are just one of the myriad ways in which funny is a subjective concept. Statistically, men tend to get the most laughs, whether they're swapping stories with the guys or holding court with women. In fact, women attempting to make men laugh have the toughest task, since a male speaker tends to provoke 126 percent more yucks out of a male audience, compared to a female speaker. Although Christopher Hitchens famously explained away this comedy conundrum in "Vanity Fair" when he wrote that women simply aren't funny, surely the social role of laughter, which traces back to our primate ancestors, is more nuanced than that.
・コンテクスト、人間（信頼）関係、国民性
Regardless of gender, the pleasurable experience we derive from humor relies heavily -- to the point of dependency -- on context. Just think about getting tickled by a best friend versus a stranger. The identity of the tickler determines whether the experience is pleasurable or painful for the one being tickled. That notion of relationship -- in terms of personal identity, age, language, ethnicity and social background -- can further impact what an audience finds funny. Americans tend to laugh more at "positive humor," characterized by irony, while Britons belly laugh at "negative humor," revolving around self-deprecation and sarcasm. Which is the funnier nation? It's anybody's guess.
・プラトン・アリストテレス流「優越」理論への反例（立場による笑いの相違）
Recent research has also taken a poke at Plato and Aristotle's superiority theory of humor. While the ancient Greeks claimed that people laugh with malice at others' misfortune, studies show there may be other motivations behind our mirth. For example, lower status employees chortle more in response to managers. In one study, participants pretending to be bosses in a work environment laughed less at a corny joke set up by the researchers, compared to when they role played as lower-level employees interacting with fictional employers. This suggests we might fake funny in order to curry favor from people with a higher status.
・笑いの元はジョークそのものではなく、自分自身と周囲の人々（との関係性）
Some of the most compelling evidence against the chances of unearthing a long-sought formula for funny is that most of the time, when people laugh in their daily lives, it isn't at jokes or comedy routines. When humor expert Jim Holt examined what we find funniest, he found that only 11 percent traces back to actual jokes or comedic routines. Instead, the primary humor sources that account for a whopping 72 percent of our daily laughter are ourselves and the folks around us. Like many seasoned, successful stand-ups report: Everything is comedic material.
Social aspects of humor and laughter
Philosopher John Morreall believes that the first human laughter may have begun as a gesture of shared relief at the passing of danger. And since the relaxation that results from a bout of laughter inhibits the biological fight-or-flight response, laughter may indicate trust in one's companions.
Many researchers believe that the purpose of laughter is related to making and strengthening human connections. "Laughter occurs when people are comfortable with one another, when they feel open and free. And the more laughter [there is], the more bonding [occurs] within the group," says cultural anthropologist Mahadev Apte. This feedback "loop" of bonding-laughter-more bonding, combined with the common desire not to be singled out from the group, may be another reason why laughter is often contagious.
Laughter and Health
We've long known that the ability to laugh is helpful to those coping with major illness and the stress of life's problems. But researchers are now saying laughter can do a lot more -- it can basically bring balance to all the components of the immune system, which helps us fight off diseases.
Laughter reduces levels of certain stress hormones. In doing this, laughter provides a safety valve that shuts off the flow of stress hormones and the fight-or-flight compounds that swing into action in our bodies when we experience stress, anger or hostility. These stress hormones suppress the immune system, increase the number of blood platelets (which can cause obstructions in arteries) and raise blood pressure. When we're laughing, natural killer cells that destroy tumors and viruses increase, as do Gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), T-cells, which are a major part of the immune response, and B-cells, which make disease-destroying antibodies.
Laughter may lead to hiccuping and coughing, which clears the respiratory tract by dislodging mucous plugs. Laughter also increases the concentration of salivary immunoglobulin A, which defends against infectious organisms entering through the respiratory tract.
What may surprise you even more is the fact that researchers estimate that laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on the rowing machine or 15 minutes on an exercise bike. Laughing can be a total body workout! Blood pressure is lowered, and there is an increase in vascular blood flow and in oxygenation of the blood, which further assists healing. Laughter also gives your diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. That's why you often feel exhausted after a long bout of laughter -- you've just had an aerobic workout!
The psychological benefits of humor are quite amazing, according to doctors and nurses who are members of the American Association for Therapeutic Humor. People often store negative emotions, such as anger, sadness and fear, rather than expressing them. Laughter provides a way for these emotions to be harmlessly released. Laughter is cathartic. That's why some people who are upset or stressed out go to a funny movie or a comedy club, so they can laugh the negative emotions away (these negative emotions, when held inside, can cause biochemical changes that can affect our bodies).
Increasingly, mental health professionals are suggesting "laughter therapy," which teaches people how to laugh -- openly -- at things that aren't usually funny and to cope in difficult situations by using humor. Following the lead of real-life funny-doc Patch Adams (portrayed by Robin Williams in a movie by the same name), doctors and psychiatrists are becoming more aware of the therapeutic benefits of laughter and humor. This is due, in part, to the growing body of humor and laughter scholarship (500 academicians from different disciplines belong to the International Society for Humor Studies).
Here are some tips to help you put more laughter in your life:
- Figure out what makes you laugh and do it (or read it or watch it) more often.
- Surround yourself with funny people -- be with them every chance you get.
- Develop your own sense of humor. Maybe even take a class to learn how to be a better comic -- or at least a better joke-teller at that next party. Be funny every chance you get -- as long as it's not at someone else's expense!