Morreall Notes, Chapter 3

Laughter probably evolved as a play signal in primates (laugh-like vocalization during play)

Young children similarly laugh play; babies laugh during mock-aggressive play (tickling, “I’m gonna get you!”)

“The laughter of the earliest humans evolved from primate play signals.”

Humor and laughter not necessarily related.  Humor develops in humans later in children: “The stage of development where most theorists begin talking about humor is when young children enjoy exercising cognitive skills in a way they know to be somehow inappropriate . . . The fun here seems to be in violating a pattern that the child has learned.”

McGhee’s Four Stages in Humor Development:

1.     Incongruous Actions Towards Objects (doing something inappropriate with an object for fun)

2.     Incongruous Labeling of Objects and Events (misusing words for fun, calling a stone a dog)

3.     Conceptual Incongruity (imaging a dog meowing)

4.     Multiple Meanings (at about the age of 7 a child can start to appreciate riddles based on double meanings.

At around the age of 8 a child begins to appreciate more sophisticated forms of humor (more grown-up forms of humor like jokes and funny stories)

One of the first forms of humor is thought to be False Alarm laughter (the laughter of relief after the sudden realization that a perceived threat is not a threat—the monsters with horns is not a monster after all).  Such laughter is contagious, spreading quickly through a group.  False alarm laughter is common in both children and adults.

In False Alarm laughter early humans did something more sophisticated than in tickling or mock-wrestling.  They played with a cognitive shift, a rapid change in their perceptions and thought . . . It was this ability to suddenly see things in ways and enjoy a mental jolt . . . that marked the transition from simple play to humor.

Impersonating, mimicking, and pretending were central in the development of comedy (make believe).

The big thing that allowed early humans to play with cognitive shifts, and thus to engage in humor, was language.

Language made possible two techniques that have become central to comedy—the wild comparison and the wild exaggeration.  Exaggeration is possibly the single most important comic technique, and possibly one of the earliest He was so scared that . . .)

Humor is part of all cultures.  The trickster figure—a jokester who reverses conventions—is practically universal.  The court jester can be found in royal court from ancient Egypt and China to nineteenth-century Europe.

Juha (Nasreddin) is a trickster figure.

Tricksters burlesque leaders and rituals, break rules, and ask questions no one else is permitted to ask.

Many ancient religions ritualized anarchic comic behavior (mardi gras and carnival).

In 5ty century Greece anarchic comic behavior gave rise to “komoidia/comedy”

The word comedy comes from the song of the komos, a komos being a band of revelers worshipping Dionysus.

Dionysian festivals celebrated fertility in the spring; as they became more scripted comedy was born.

Greek comdey separated into old and new.  Old Greek comedy abounded in sex, food, drink, and revelry (often somewhat obscene, Lysistrata).  Greek New Comedy was more subdued, more realistic, and the themes are more domestic and romantic.  Humor is evoked by playful wit.  This approach to comdy has been standard ever since.

The basic pattern in humor: The playful enjoyment of a cognitive shift.

Our humor has much in common with prehistoric humor (expressing our enjoyment of a cognitive shift in play mode with laughter).

Cognitive Shift: rapid change in perception.  In humor, often from the cosmic or serious to the trivial, or less desirable.  Jokes most often use a cognitive shift with a set-up and a punch line.  The greater the contrast between the two states in a cognitive shift, the greater the possibility of humor.

Entering into a play mode is crucial to humor.  A playful attitude can be created most often by setting up an obvious fictionalized situation (two armadillos walked into a bar . . .).  We need to know that the situations are not real.  The more obviously fictional the character is, the easier the play is to achieve (Roadrunner dropping a ton of bricks on Wile E. Coyote)

The passage of time is often necessary for serious subjects to become humorous material (but not always).  Another factor in comic disengagement is one’s role—or better, lack of role, in potentially disturbing situations.  We must be disengaged.

Laughter feels good.  There is pleasure in humor, and this pleasure is social, exhilarating, and liberating.  Generally, laughter is social (reading a funny book or watching a funny film Morreall considers to be social, in that they are a form of communication).  Laughter is also lively and exhilarating.  Laughter requires both physically and mentally activity.  Finally, laughter is also liberating because it tends to defy or disrupt the conventions of behavior that normally dominate our lives.

Milton Berle—“Laughter is an instant vacation.”

In humor we can poke fun at not just civic and religious authorities, but the whole serious approach to life.  In humor, we challenge standard beliefs, values, and customs.  In humor, we challenge the hegemony of reason.

Laughter is universal.  To amuse means to make someone laugh or smile with pleasure.  Amusement is thus the state of being caused to laugh or smile with pleasure.

Babies begin to smile between 2 and 4 months of age, and to laugh shortly after that.

Sharing laughter establishes a social bond (“we are safe and can relax together).  Humor is thus fundamental to social experience.

The pleasure in humor has a natural disposition to issue in laughter.

There simply is not single concept of humor and no single concept of amusement for which we can list necessary and sufficient conditions.  Honor is always relative to context.

Humor is a kind of play, and play is essential in early development and learning.

A study of sociopathic murderers in Texas revealed no common factor among them except a deprivation of childhood play in 90% of them.

Kant described wit as the play of thoughts.  According to Morreall, in playing with thoughts we develop rationality. 

Humor is nor simply play; it also serves as a coping mechanism, helping us cope with difficult situations.

Humor is healthy.  Humorous laughter reduces heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and stress chemicals.  And while negative emotions suppress our immune system, humorous laughter can enhance it.

Humor is an excellent way to disengage ourselves from negative emotions.  We often find ways to laugh at disaster.  Laughter becomes a defense mechanism.

Mark Twain—“Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.”