What I would like you to do is to find a topic from chapter 1 that you were interested in and search the internet for material on that topic. You might, for example, find people who are doing research on the topic, you might find web pages that discuss the topic, you might find youtube clips that demonstrate something related to the topic, etc. What you find and use is pretty much up to you at this point. But use at least 3 sources.
Once you have completed your search and explorations, I would like you to say what your topic is, how exactly it fits into the chapter, and why you are interested in it. Next, I would like you to take the information you found related to your topic, integrate/synthesize it, and then write about it. At the end, please include working URLs for the three websites.
By integrating/synthesizing I mean to take what your read/experienced from the internet search (and from chapter 1 if you like) organize the information into the main themes, issues, info, examples, etc. about your topic and then write about the topic in your own words using that information. This is hard for some people to do - many students write what we refer to as "serial abstracts." They are tempted to talk about the websites rather than the topic proper. They will talk all about website #1, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #2, start a new paragraph and talk all about web site #3, and then write some kind of conclusion. Serial means one after the other...This what you DON'T want to do!
At first it is a real challenge to get out of the habit of writing "serial abstracts," but I assure you once you get the hang of it it is much easier to write using the integration method. And besides this is the way researchers and scientists write their technical reports and findings - many of you will have to be able to do this for other classes and for jobs that you may eventually be hired for so now is a good time to learn this skill. At this point don't worry about a grade, worry about doing your best to have fun with the topic and then integrate it into your own words to share what you found and now know. We will work on citing the sources later....
Let me know if you have any questions.
My topic of interest were the wide variety of different types of jokes. Knock-knock jokes, puns, clever word play, over or understating the reality of the situation, satire, irony… The list is almost endless. The commonality, as discussed in the text, is the creation of a playful incongruity of some kind. As usually happens, the list of different types of jokes can be very short or incredibly large based on whether you favor lumping similar categories together or splitting into groups based on subtle differences.
Puns, knock-knock jokes, anecdotes, and practical jokes are familiar to most people, but professional comedians make distinctions between hyperbole, blunders, bulls, asides, caricatures, the catch tale, and many more. In any field the more in depth you study the topic the more terms become necessary to articulate the subtle differences that exist between the phenomena you are studying. In a 2009 article an evolutionary theorist claimed to have gotten list down to only 8 different categories; and these would describe every type of humor throughout history, independent of culture. A bold claim. He does this pretty well by the sounds of it (a full explanation is not given) but his categories are quite broad and difficult to understand without his explanations; e.g. One category is 'Application' and refers to words having double meanings; another 'qualitative recontexualisation' refers to using a common word in a different way. Humor results from a combination of these (and 6 other) basic categories.
Demitri Martin is a comedian who makes a lot of clever ‘word-play’ jokes in his act. He has a song called ‘Sames and opposites” in which he comically compares different things together. For example, “A musical is the same as a burlap sack. I don’t want to be in either of them.” “A cactus is the opposite of a chair.” These are funny because he is attributing a ‘sameness’ (or ‘oppositeness’) that doesn’t intrinsically exist in the two items, but only accidentally given the context he uses them in. So the formula he uses is to list two items that do not share any obvious essential qualities, but share an obscure accidental quality. “A squirrel is the same as a can,…” This creates an incongruity in our heads because a squirrel does not share any essential characteristics with a can. “…when I have a BB gun in my hand.” This remedies the incongruity by showing that both the squirrel and the can although they have no essential qualities in common do share the accidental quality of “possible BB gun targets.”
Another type of comedy that has become popular on Youtube is the series of video’s called “Literal Video’s.” There is a small set of videos done by a major production studio that are the best to find. What they do is play the original music video from a classic song but change all the lyrics to words which literally describe the visual scene throughout the video. The result is absolute hilarity. The songs are generally well known so we know how the melody is supposed to go, and what the words should be. Even if you aren’t familiar with the song’s you know how songs and music videos are generally organized so the whole situation is completely unexpected.
After watching a bunch of different types of jokes and comedians online and looking up some of the different categories that jokes are separated in to I do see how subtle distinctions between types of jokes can be worthwhile in uncovering important aspects of the structure and function of humor. Although any play on words could be lumped into the same category there is a distinct difference between the examples above (literal video’s and Martin’s ‘Sames and Opposites’).
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002267F/types_of_humor.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5023227/All-jokes-fit-into-eight-categories-says-scientist.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKLSgBSWwxQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA
nice job.
When reading over the types of spontaneous conversational humor, I found self-deprecation to be interesting. I think it is safe to say that we all have used self-deprecating humor at some point in our lives to buffer something that we have said that we are embarrassed by and as the book mentions, to put the person we are communicating with at ease with the conversation. When first thinking about self-deprecation, I had mixed feelings about its effects on one’s self esteem. To me, if self-deprecation is used sparingly, it is funny and harmless; however, if somebody continually uses self-deprecation, it could become unhealthy.
Interestingly enough, when searching online, I found some interesting, yet conflicting opinions about the use of self-deprecation. On the one side, self-deprecation is claimed to be one of the “quickest ways to lose potential friends” but the other side claims that self-deprecation is “the key to the art of seduction.” In a nutshell, self-deprecation supposedly leads you to lose friends because it becomes exhausting for the friends to hear you put yourself down constantly. For example, I have had people continually vent to me about this and that and it gets very exhausting and makes me dread and further contact with them.
More interestingly though, is the argument that self-deprecating is somewhat attractive. I found a little preview of a study that had women listen to men talking about themselves via recordings. Basically, the study found that a sense of humor made men more attractive, but self-deprecating humor was considered to be the most attractive. I didn’t read the full research article to see if the author made any suggestions as to why women are attracted to men who use self-deprecating humor, but I’m guessing that maybe it sends women a message that these men aren’t perfect and aren’t scared to admit their flaws.
I would have to agree, at least in some degree, to both arguments I have found. Like I mentioned before, from personal experience, I agree that when a person uses self-deprecating humor constantly, it can become exhausting and turn you away from them. I can also agree that self-deprecating can be funny if used correctly and sparingly and perhaps even attractive.
I also threw in this youtube clip of a comedian who bases her show off of self-deprecation which target her hearing impairment)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruryWsOSYOM&feature=related
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2463131/Self-deprecation-the-key-to-the-art-of-seduction.html
http://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/blog/2008/04/06/how-to-make-true-friends-%E2%80%93-part-5-%E2%80%93-get-out-of-self-deprecation-mode/
My topic is the spontaneous conversational humor. This topic grabbed my attention because of the research by Nicholas Kuiper. He found that 72% of people experienced humor daily through spontaneous social interactions. This research didn't surprise me because I would agree that humor in my daily life would occur through spontaneous interactions. I was surprised that the percentage was as high as it was. I figured it would have been higher than 50% of daily interactions but I also feel like some people sit around with their friends and tell jokes.
Spontaneous humor relies greatly upon context.
There are many different types of humor and reasons for using the different aspects of humor. Humor can be used to break the ice when meeting new people or to break an awkward moment. It can also be used to hurt people and put them down. By using humor people can pretend they were trying to be funny. Humor can also help de-stress and relax after long day. Humor and laughter has also become a major influence in the type of people we surround ourselves on a daily basis and potentially even the people we decide to spend our lives with. The text
Spontaneous humor is also broken down into many categories. Examples of a few of the categories include teasing, sarcasm, and puns. I also found a clip from the television series Friends where in the beginning Ross is complimenting his sister Monica's tan. He learns that it's a spray tan and he becomes intrigued. Chandler (Monica's husband) is sitting next to Monica and he learns that Chandler get pedicures. Teasing, and sarcasm ensue. The clip continues with Ross going to get a spray tan where more humor occurs when he encounters trouble.
Jay Leno does a segment on the Tonight Show with headlines from newspapers, ads, or basically anything in print and something is wrong on them. I found a clip of many headlines where there are puns, overstatements/understatements. For example, a football schedule reads "Green Day vs. Kansas City" Clearly it should have read "Green Bay vs. Kansas City."
After researching more on spontaneous humor I have come to realize that I appreciate that sort of humor in my daily life as opposed to hearing jokes just to get a laugh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOLCwaHVtWs&feature=related
http://abcdfinnestad.blogspot.com/2009/06/spontaneous-humor.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwaVsLKPZ5w
I chose to look at sarcasm since it seems to get alot of use in my house. Sarcasm is part of our every day lives, unfortunately not everyone realizes it. If you use sarcasm correctly, it can be hilarious, but as most people know when it's used incorrectly feelings get hurt.
While searching online I found some interesting information on sarcasm. I found some genius responses on sites like yahoo answers when people asked what sarcasm is. I'm not going to get into those though. The really interesting information is on how our brain handles sarcasm.
In 2005 a group of Israeli researchers studied sarcasm using participants who had different areas of their brains damaged along with a control group. The study involved having participants listen to recorded stories, some of the stories were sarcastic and some were neutral. The study showed that the participants with damage to the prefrontal lobe had impaired abilities in picking up on sarcasm where as the other groups did not. Among the participants with prefrontal damage participants that had damage to the right ventromedial area had the most issues understanding the sarcasm in the stories. The study showed that there are three areas of our brain that are responsible for understanding sarcasm: the language cortex picks up the literal meaning, the frontal lobe infers the context, and then the ventromedial prefontal cortex puts the information together and understands it as sarcastic.
A 2005 study from France looked at whether children could understand sarcasm. The study showed that children under the age of 5 could understand sarcasm when using a sarcastic intonation and children over the age of 7 could tell sarcasm just by context (I guess they don't care about 6 year olds). One of my nieces by age 3 or 4 was already picking up on sarcasm. When one of us would make a sarcastic comment she would always ask "are you joking?".
When looking at sarcasm I thought it was important to get a good video for an example. I chose a clip from one of my favorite shows "Big Bang Theory". There are several examples of sarcasm through out the clip given by Leonard. His room mate, Sheldon, continuously had to ask "is that sarcasm". My favorite part is when Leonard makes a sarcastic comment and Sheldon doesn't get it Leonard asks if he has to hold up his sarcasm sign every time he opens his mouth. Sheldon again doesn't understand and asks "you have a sarcasm sign?" This video shows that not everyone will understand sarcasm.
Sarcasm can be hurtful when people don't get it. But it is one of my favorite forms of humor. Some people are better at using sarcasm at others, when people get it right it's hilarious.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/24938.php
http://people.howstuffworks.com/sarcasm1.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7MroTLDfU
The topic from the chapter that really interested me was laughter. I chose to focus particularly on why laughter is known for being contagious along with the health benefits of laughing with friends, family, and even strangers.
All of the articles I gathered agree that the positive sounds such as laughter, joy, excitement ect. trigger strong responses is the surrounding listeners brains. The brain area that is activated by these positive sounds is the same area that activates when we smile. In one of my articles research was conducted to measure subjects brains with a fMRI when they were exposed to different sounds and noises. This research showed that positive responses triggered a much more powerful response than negative noises such as screaming and yelling. Within the same article, researchers studied the movement of facial muscles when the different sounds were played. This research showed that the subjects tended to smile or grin more when they heard laughter but did not make unpleasant facial expressions when they heard negative sounds such as screaming, yelling ect.
Another reason why laughter is contagious is the idea that most people mirror the person they are speaking to. When we are in social settings majority of people will mirror the behaviors, gestures, and words of those they are engaging with. Researchers now feel that the same applies with laughter, we mirror the behaviors of our surroundings. By laughing with others or mirroring the behavior we are exposed to will help us interact socially.
As far as the health benefits go for laughing the list is nearly endless. I found in my research that humor and laughter can help our bodies mentally, socially, and physically. Mentally, laughing with others will help ease any anxiety or fear one might have as well as improving ones mood and releasing stress. Physically, laughing decreases any pain and boosts your immunity. Last of all, socially, laughing enhances teamwork, strengthens relationships, and helps to defuse conflict.
After my research I learned that the idea that laughter is contagious is proven to be true because of the ways our brains respond to positive noises. So when we find ourselves laughing uncontrollably and causing others around us to laugh this is the best medicine for our bodies because it is not helping us physically, mentally, and socially, but it's free to laugh!!!
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Laughter-is-Contagious-43779.shtml http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061212_laugh.htm http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm
Forgot to post my URLs:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Laughter-is-Contagious-43779.shtml
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/061212_laugh.htm
http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm
The topic I chose to do was on sarcasm and a little of bit of unintentional humor since both of these tend to go hand in hand at times. For example a person accidently spilling milk down the front of them might cause someone with a sarcastic sense of humor to be like" wow got milk or you missed a spot" Some people do not know how to take sarcasm as good as others do and this tends to be a problem because some people might take it the wrong way and get their feelings hurt while others might lash back and then the few selective ones will find you humorous.
When researching this topic I first had to look at youtube because that website is amazing for finding hilarious videos which I will share with you from the castmembers of Friends Matthew Perry is down right rude but hilarious when teaching a sarcasm 101 course, whereas Ross in another clip is freaking Rachel out more because she is so worried about their baby who is locked inside their apartment. In the end Rachel does not sense that Ross is using sarcasm towards her because she plain out tells him he better not be right.
Furthermore, there has been some research on the psychology of humor in the field of sarcasm and apparently there is a sarcasm annoymous group one can go see to help deal with the hurtful things people have said towards them in a sarcastic manner and how they can deal with it. There are two types of people whom sarcasm pleases which I never know. Type one deals with insecure people who have low self-esteem and use sarcasm as a way of letting out their jealousy issues. Type two targets psychopathic killers, who take pleasure in inflicting moral wounds that kill character. From the youtube videos Ross demonstrates type 1 because he plays a character that tries to hide his insecurities but you can always see it on his face and Matthew Perry in the video is more of type 2 since he doesn't care who he's hurting.
Overall, I think its crazy that people would get joy out of hurting others intentionally. I know I try to be funny using my sarcastic sense of humor and some of my friends and family don't understand me and always have to ask me "Are you being real or sarcasatic?" which you think they would know me by now right? Futhermore, Sarcasm Annoymous really? Who would have thought it would go that far, some of the things they have people do to overcome their problems dealing with hurtful sarcasm is confronting the person by asking why they put them down and what they get out of it. Also, by telling them to tell themselves and otherss that they don't deserve abuse and that they need to be able to keep their posture so they can think clearly about the situations in which they might or have been in.
Lastly, but not least psycholgists did do a quantitative study do determine if people really knew what sarcasm was. Interesting thing is when it came to the participants having to give an example of a sarcastic remark the majority did not do so correctly. The research goes on to talk about how the vast majority of people who use sarcasm do so in an incorrect way. Sarcasm represents a difficult verbal behavior, and a lot of people who try to use it fail to accomplish it accurately. Like mentioned earlier sarcasm is meant to sound mean but in reality the person usually means the opposite. This is why more than half of the people in the study were found to misuse and misunderstand sarcasm because the vast majority can't recognize sarcasm in the first place.
After doing research on this topic I guess I am more well rounded as to why sarcasm is misunderstood and how peoples feelings do get hurt unintentionally for the most part at least. I will be more careful in my word choices towards others so they do not take me personally in the near future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLc8RIdRzio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s5ufToIR7U
http://socyberty.com/languages/think-you-are-great-in-sarcasm-think-again/
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/08/18/would-you-even-recognize-sarcasm/
The topic I have chosen for this blog is spontaneous conversational humor, especially in the work place. I am currently employed at Texas Roadhouse as a server/bartender, and spend a lot of my time with my coworkers, both at work and outside of work. We often use categories of spontaneous conversational humor such as sarcasm, overstating and understating, and irony at work. It is kind of hard to not use humor at a restaurant, or any type of workplace, in order to just get through the day.
When thinking of conversational humor, the television show “The Office” came to mind. I myself being an avid Office fan immediately thought of Michael Scott and his lack, or there of, of conversational humor used in the work place. He uses canned jokes more often than conversational humor such as sarcasm and irony. It also seems as though his coworkers don’t enjoy his sense of humor at all, which mostly do contain canned jokes. The clip represents how he thinks he is hilarious with his jokes, mostly with the “That’s what she said jokes”, which would fit into the double entendres category.
Conversational humor rather than canned jokes occurs more often in everyday life, and in every day conversation. “The Office” is a good example of why you should use humor in everyday situations, just to lighten things up. If you don’t have anything to funny to say you can still show that you have a sense of humor by enjoying yourself, like Michael Scott tends to do with his antics. Though the article, “Why Humor Is Important” explains why it is good to enjoy yourself, it is not good to fake a laugh, because that just leads to a series of fake laughs. It also explains that you shouldn’t lie laugh, just be yourself, which I believe is essential for humor.
Though Michael Scott’s double entendre jokes such as “That’s what she said” are funny, yet sometimes over used, they can sometimes be hurtful and others can be offended by them. According to the article, “SNL's Seth Myers on Palin's 'Rude Double-Entendre' Claim: 'That's 100 Percent True” from newsbusters.com, a double entendre that was aimed towards Sarah Palin offended her, which led to her writing about the incident in her book. This is just an example of how some people think some types of humor are funnier than others.
After doing research about conversational humor, I have learned that conversational humor is very important and often overlaps the idea of canned jokes used in the work place, and every day life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFSeOUWyEfk
http://conversationaid.com/humor-shy.html
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/11/18/snls-seth-myers-palins-rude-double-entendre-claim-thats-100-percent-tru
I chose to find information on the health benefits of humor and laughter because this is interesting to me but the text did not say much about it. I think this topic is interesting to me because I like to find out how different aspects of life effect health. I especially like learning about things that aren't typically thought about when discussing health.
“Laughter is the best medicine.” There may be some truth to that well known saying. Laughing produces physical effects that may have health benefits. Studies have been done showing that laughing opens up the lining of blood vessels increasing blood flow. Laughing for fifteen minutes a day can improve health by increasing blood flow. Blood pressure increases sending more oxygen to the body tissues.
Some people say that the effects of laughter are similar to a workout because of the increased heart rate. Exercise has been shown to increase a person’s overall sense of well-being and is a very effective way to improve and maintain health. Laughing may be comparable to exercise but fifteen minutes of laughing only burns fifty calories and cannot be one’s sole physical activity.
Studies of laughter have been shown to increase T-cells which are infection fighting cells of the immune system. In one study, laughter was shown to reduce blood sugar in people with diabetes. Although these results were found, group studied was only of nineteen people. It seems that more research is necessary for these findings to be more credible.
Laughter releases endorphins which can help fight pain and are called the “feel good” hormones. Also, laughter assists a relaxed state. Ten to fifteen minutes of laughter can help one to relax and be calm after the laughing is over. These two things combined can help one to fall asleep and rest more easily.
There are many reasons why it is not said that laughing is proven to have health benefits. One reason is that other things that may cause similar effects have not been compared to laughing. For example, screaming may produce similar effects and therefore health benefits cannot be attributed to solely laughing. Another big reason is that the findings may be just correlational. It may just be that people with a sense of humor may be less affected by stress, a major factor of heart disease. Studies have shown that people with a good sense of humor are less likely to become depressed and may have a more optimistic outlook on life in general. More serious mannered people may be less affected by humor which means it may not be as beneficial. Reduced stress can also be associated with a sense of control. When we laugh, we feel like we have more control over our mirth as opposed to when we feel blue. When we feel down, we may also feel helpless to change the feeling,
Lastly, people who laugh more may just be more social. There are proven health benefits to being around people who you love and you like to be around (family and friends).
Studies may not be big enough or conclusive enough to prove that laughter can improve your health but if you ask anyone, most will say that laughing makes them feel good.
After reading more about laughing and health, I believe laughing may be better used for preventative purposes and not curing purposes.
http://www.chronicillnessandlaughter.com/
http://women.webmd.com/guide/give-your-body-boost-with-laughter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCrcFcfp-Mg
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=15&sid=16ad5cd0-5e4d-4083-9e5d-d288e1739f53%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=hxh&AN=9607031261
I really liked the chronic illness & laughter article. It's amazing how even fake laughing can boost our moods & immune system. Plus, this type of medicine is free :)
I usually think of myself as having a good sense of humor, even when it comes to making fun of something or someone. If someone pokes fun of me or makes a joke that’s directed right at me, I usually find it funny, as long as they’re not being too aggressive or really trying to upset me. And the same goes for something that I like or that I’m a fan of. For example, I like the Harry Potter series and I started reading them all the way back in junior high, and HP is something that gets made fun of all time. Comedians can easily make jokes about it, and I’ve seen some SNL skits that have something to do with it. And even though I like it, I don’t get offended by the fact its being made fun of. I have friends that really take things like that to heart. I know someone who is a really huge fan of Twilight, and that is something that seems to be made fun of a lot, but it really get to her and she really hates it when it happens.
A topic that I found interesting from chapter 1 was the different categories of humor. I like a lot of different types of humor and find them to be funny. I found an article online from Psychology Today called “What’s Your Humor Style.” http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200606/whats-your-humor-style
The first part of the article mentioned some main points that were talked about in the book, but then I saw a heading the heading that really caught my eye: Put-Down Humor. I immediately thought of one of my favorite shows, Chelsea Lately. Basically the show is all about making fun of celebrities with a few really odd or ridiculous news stories thrown in. After reading that section of the article, I went in search of a good Chelsea Lately clip on YouTube. There are way too many out there, and I could waste way too much time trying to find the perfect clip, but here’s one that I thought was funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsqrKnYpRTg&feature=related
This kind of humor isn’t really one that I’m very good at executing, but I find it to be very funny. I think what adds to my amusement about it is how offensive some people find it. Using Chelsea Lately as an example again, there was a show where she did a mock interview with the Jonas Brothers, and she is not a fan of them. So in this clip, she talks about the hate mail that she received for making fun of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9a_GDqJYas. Even though I find this type of humor funny, I found several sites that talk about how much this type of humor is not funny at all, but what I found from those is that they were talking about making fun of people in everyday life, like your friends, people you work with. I think that what’s funny about Chelsea’s humor is that, for the most part, she makes fun of things that a lot of us can relate to in pop culture. From watching her show and from the article that I found, even this category could be broken up even further. The article mentioned the type of humor consisting of teasing, sarcasm, and ridicule. And there are many different contexts to look at this kind of humor too. I think it’s funny when late-night hosts use this type of humor, and it can also be funny when you’re joking around with your friends. But I think the entire atmosphere changes if the person you’re actually making fun of is there or not. If it’s all in good fun, that person could even add to the humor using Self-Deprecation humor. I think that if it’s used in the right context, I think put-down humor is funny.
My topic of interest out of chapter 1 is unintentional humor. Unintentional humor, such as when someone slips on ice, is referred to as slapstick or screwball humor. According to the book, accidental physical humor includes minor mishaps and pratfalls such as the person slipping on a banana peel or spilling their drink on their shirt. The chapter also mentions accidental linguistic humor, which can consist of misspellings, mispronunciations, or errors in logic. In my opinion some of the most laughable moments are unscripted. For example, in quite a few movies they have outtakes of actors or stunt doubles performing a scene and messing up or doing something funny even though it was clearly unscripted.
Chris Farley is a comedic actor (dead now) who’s humor roots from basic accidental physical humor. In several of his movies there are scenes that consist of him unintentionally falling down a mountainside or out of a tree, hitting branches on the way down. I feel these are great examples of how unintentional physical accidents can be very humorous. I was able to find a couple scenes that represented the concept of unintentional humor very well.
I also found some great examples of accidental linguistic humor in a couple scenes from movies. One of them is scripted but the concept of linguistic humor is clearly present to make the audience laugh. The movie is Dumb and Dumber, in which Jim Carey’s character attempts to seduce his love interest, but when it comes time to talk to her he begins to say some funny stuff that he does not intend to say to her. Another great example I found was of Jackie Chan in some outtakes of the Rush Hour movies. Some of the outtakes are clear cases of accidental linguistic humor because Chan has difficulty with some pronunciations which causes him to say funny things. Since this actor does his own stunt work he has many cases of humor involving unintentional physical accidents.
I have found that unintentional humor is the way of making others in a group laugh without actually meaning to do so, but by being aware that people find accident-type things funny, one can successfully make something funny by having people fall out of trees or down mountainsides as long as it seems unplanned. These sorts of accidents are very funny and can only end in a good laugh when they occur in an unexpected and absurd manner, and of course when the person who is victim is not seriously hurt or badly embarrassed.
Sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbpRpJzZK7s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRRQaz75-M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mff6uPddUbw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEIrBmZSUJU&p=3A430D43DB97033B&playnext=1&index=58 (at 1:57)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oizfffsQtAY&p=3A430D43DB97033B&index=60&playnext=2
My topic of interest out of chapter 1 is unintentional humor. Unintentional humor, such as when someone slips on ice, is referred to as slapstick or screwball humor. According to the book, accidental physical humor includes minor mishaps and pratfalls such as the person slipping on a banana peel or spilling their drink on their shirt. The chapter also mentions accidental linguistic humor, which can consist of misspellings, mispronunciations, or errors in logic. In my opinion some of the most laughable moments are unscripted. For example, in quite a few movies they have outtakes of actors or stunt doubles performing a scene and messing up or doing something funny even though it was clearly unscripted.
Chris Farley is a comedic actor (dead now) who’s humor roots from basic accidental physical humor. In several of his movies there are scenes that consist of him unintentionally falling down a mountainside or out of a tree, hitting branches on the way down. I feel these are great examples of how unintentional physical accidents can be very humorous. I was able to find a couple scenes that represented the concept of unintentional humor very well.
I also found some great examples of accidental linguistic humor in a couple scenes from movies. One of them is scripted but the concept of linguistic humor is clearly present to make the audience laugh. The movie is Dumb and Dumber, in which Jim Carey’s character attempts to seduce his love interest, but when it comes time to talk to her he begins to say some funny stuff that he does not intend to say to her. Another great example I found was of Jackie Chan in some outtakes of the Rush Hour movies. Some of the outtakes are clear cases of accidental linguistic humor because Chan has difficulty with some pronunciations which causes him to say funny things. Since this actor does his own stunt work he has many cases of humor involving unintentional physical accidents.
I have found that unintentional humor is the way of making other group laugh without actually meaning to do so, but by being aware that people find accident-type things funny, one can successfully make something funny by having people fall out of trees or down mountainsides as long as it seems unplanned. These sorts of accidents are very funny when they occur in an unexpected and absurd manner and when the person who is victim is not seriously hurt or badly embarrassed.
Sources
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbpRpJzZK7s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRRQaz75-M&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mff6uPddUbw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEIrBmZSUJU&p=3A430D43DB97033B&playnext=1&index=58 (at 1:57)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oizfffsQtAY&p=3A430D43DB97033B&index=60&playnext=2
What I was interested in this chapter was evolutionary theories of laughter and humor. The book mentions that besides crying, laughter is one of the first “social vocalizations” of newborn humans. The book states that laughing is innately established within human “brain mechanisms” and that all newborns cross-culturally began to laugh at about 4 months. This is a popular video depicts a Swedish baby laughing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk. Although I do not believe that there is also a cross-cultural agreement about what is funny, I do think that evolutionary theory explains why this particular video of a baby laughing is so enjoyable to so many people. Due to evolution (our desire to ensure the passing of traits) we are naturally sensitive to behaviors of infants, like crying. Furthermore, as the book mentions, laughing and humor is very pro-social behavior, “Humor can be a method of enhancing social cohesion within an in-group”. So when infants laugh, we are more likely to response to this pro-social behavior (I doubt millions of people would tune in to watch an adult laugh) Furthermore, support that laughter is innate mentioned in the book, is that humans are not the only animals who laugh. Primates, with a common evolutionary ancestor to us, such as apes also laugh or giggle which is seen in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnbKzDkZktQ. Well it seems that laughter and humor is innate, the notion of what is funny or humor is not. It is continuously developing within societies and is not cross-cultural. As the book mentions, a “sense of humor” used to be considered a trait of only the mentally instable in western cultural. However it is now considered desirable to have a “sense of humor”. An example the book mentions, is it used to be an issue for one seeking an office to have a “sense of humor” in the 19th century. However now it has been become a “necessary characteristic in a politician”. Components of a candidate even attack candidates for lacking a “sense of humor”. http://www.dump.com/2009/07/28/do-this/.
One thing that really interested me in this chapter was that humans are not the only animals that can laugh suggesting that laughter/humor is a product of natural selection. Everyone has heard a human laugh but have you heard an animal laugh and didn’t even know it? Our book focused on apes such as the chimpanzee, orangutan, bonobos and gorillas having the ability to laugh but I found in articles that these are not the only animals that researchers believe can laugh.
Researchers also have found evidence that rats, and dogs also laugh. Laughter in animals is usually associated with play and tickling. When dogs are playing researchers have found that they make a distinguishing exhalation that triggers playfulness in other dogs. The sound that dogs make while being playful is different from the sounds they make when they are angry/growling. A group of students analyzed recording of dogs panting and found that when dogs are being playful their exhalation reaches different frequencies than normal dog panting.
In children we see a lot of laughter take place during rough and tumble play this is also evident among animals. Researchers have used tickling as a means to study animal laughter. When Apes laugh they usually also do it in a form of panting but unlike humans they are able to laugh while inhaling and exhaling. Apes laugh while playing and also when tickled. Rats that are tickled or active in play emit a chirping sound that differs in frequencies from other noises they regularly produce. Research suggest that rats who were tickled also bonded with the human that were tickling them, and often preferred to be around a fellow rat that “chirped” a lot.
As mentioned in our book laughter is one of the first social vocalizations emitted by human infants, this suggests that laughter is deeply rooted in our brain. Researchers believe that since laughter and humor is an instinctive part of human life that humor has deep evolutionary roots. Darwin was the first to suggest this in 1872. I think that these findings are very interesting, and important to future research regarding animal behavior.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7348880/
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/06/scientists_tickle_apes_to_reveal_evolutionary_origins_of_hum.php?id=122709
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.uni.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=17&sid=990f6043-b828-44c5-8064-e77ac1b6097a%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=afh&AN=4903617
I think it's interesting that these animals show this behavior. The link between behavior and the biological processes behind it has always been interesting to me. The fact that these animals experience laughter suggests that there is some sort of biological process behind it and even the book says laughter and mirth is connected to the limbic system in the brain. Its also interesting that all the animals you mentioned are mammals, and as far as I have been informed the limbic system is a uniquely mammilian trait.
I am a fan of the style of humor that appreciates a good joke at the expense of another. Our book (pg 17-18) suggests that we find humor in the folleys or misfortunes of others because it makes us personally feel superior or because we want to enforce social norms onto someone by laughing at them. The youtube video entitled dramatic reading of a breakup letter illustrates our feeling superiority over another. We laugh at the video and think, "seriously who is this dumb. Not me thats for sure." We laugh at the incompetence of this girl. We look past details like a broken hearted teenager and the message that rings in our head while we laugh is "ha ha she's dumb." The dramatic reading part helps to exaggerate the grammatical ineptness of the writer but in end we are laughing at someone who is not as good as us because they are of a lower intelligence.
We use aggressive humor to alienate those who disagree with us and find a common ground with those of similar opinions. I think Bill Maher is a perfect example. He is known for being ruthless with words when it comes to bashing those of opposing opinions. Take a moment to watch the video titled Bill Maher about Sarah Palin. Its a pretty run of the mill stand up routine, some clever jokes that are really only funny because chances are if you are watching you HATE SARAH PALIN. Bill Maher is so polarized that he draws a particular audience and the audience wouldn't laugh if it were about some random jane doe or someone with similar views. They are empowered to laugh because Palin, a figurehead for views they despise, is being put at a level where they are now better than her, even though she arguably has higher social status or more worth to society. Now take a moment to watch the video entitled Bill Maher lays waste to Religion. We see a familiar scene, Bill Maher denying his opponent any amount of respect. But wait, this video has no jokes. There is no intentional humor here but any fan of Bill Maher still laughs and finds humor in watching the other guy squirm. Finding amusement in the weakness of others, even in the absence of any other "funny" stimuli could support the idea put forth again and again by the book; that humor is mainly a social tool that we use to interact with each other and even seek out tangible results with. But there is also a personal factor, we feel personally empowered when someone whose opinions anger us is humiliated. For some of us at least humor seems to be a mechanism to keep us feeling superior, or at least not inferior. Its a safety blanket ensuring that no matter how valid of a point you make to rebut my own opinions, I can still make one more wisecrack at your expense and I come out a winner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBHOL1PcPR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2OUJ8ZUTiI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYW2xXxFVtU
In finding a specific topic, I found Spontaneous conversational humor to grasp my attention. I am constantly around people who use and engage in the various levels of conversational humor. Everyone in my family uses this to the fullest extent!!! There is never a dead non-laughter moment at the mccutchen household!! So this is probably why I chose this topic of interest due to the familiarity of the subject.
While pondering on conversational humor, the standup comedian came to mind. I’ve actually been to a few of his shows and it’s hard not to fall on the ground and roll around while He’s up. His mixture of Irony, satire, overestimation, SELF DEPRECATION, teasing, clever replies to serious statements, double extenders, defines a true hysterical person who is a massive expert at using spontaneous conversational humor to develop a positive feeling of mirth. This type of humor trumps the other styles by a long shot because the various situations he brings up are situations in which just about everyone can relate to in some way shape or form. His biggest use of any of the categories of spontaneous conversational humor would probably be a tie between self-deprecation, satire, and teasing. Self-deprecation is usually used a person makes them self the butt of the jokes or causes them to talk about them self in a way that makes them the object of humor. Lavell demonstrates this by talking about his fatness. Adults sometimes take risks to self-presentation or to social relationships in their joking, by giving vocal signals that they are not serious, or by making sure the key of the conversation clearly implies irrealis when they begin to joke about themselves or the listener. Teasing is defined as humorous remarks directed at the listeners personal appearance or foibles. We see comedians all the time go through the audience and start talking about people.
Another aspect that relates to spontaneous conversational humor is creativity. This plays a massive role in determining if a particular person is in fact funny or not. Your approach has to be placed and unique. Also the tone quality of your voice must change and fluctuate to keep people intrigued. Lavell continuously changes his voice which adds even more pain in your stomach.
http://ihd.berkeley.edu/Hecka%20funny.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtjjqzs-IUQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAdBhT1G8AM&feature=related
http://applij.oxfordjournals.org/content/28/4/538.full
Chapter 1 discussed the psychological functions of humor. One aspect discussed in chapter 1 that I found particularly interesting was the role that humor plays in coping with life stress and adversity. As noted by Martin, humor provides a way for an individual to shift their perspective on a stressful situation, reappraising it from a new and less threatening point of view. I found this topic to be interesting because it shows how humor may be used as a therapeutic alternative to medicine, as a resiliency builder, and as a way to improve one’s social life.
Laughter may have therapeutic effects on reducing one’s stress. In an article on WebMD, it was stated that increased stress is associated with decreased immune system response. Studies have shown that the ability to use humor may raise the level of infection-fighting antibodies in the body and boost the levels of immune cells. In this article, it is explained how laughter may have beneficial effects on the physiology of the body concerning blood flow, immune response, blood sugar levels, and relaxation and sleep. In a similar article by Helpguide.org, it was reported that laughter triggers the release of endorphins. Endorphins promote an overall sense of well-being and can even temporarily relieve pain. The article also found laughter to relax the body, boost the immune system, and protect the heart. These two articles provide evidence for how laughter and humor may be beneficial for the physiology of one’s body.
In addition to have positive effects for one’s body, laughter may also help promote one’s well-being by building a person’s resilience. In a peer-reviewed journal article, Paul McGhee (2006) wrote about the power of humor in dealing with difficult situations. McGhee notes that humor should be used as a tactic to keep a person from going crazy from the stress of daily life. Similarly, the article previously discussed from Helpguide.org states that there are a number of health benefits found to result from humor: humor adds joy and zest to life, eases anxiety and fear, relieves stress, improves mood, and enhances resilience. Martin also states in the textbook that cognitive play of humor has been adapted as a means of dealing with difficulties and hardships, contributing to the resilience and coping potentials that have enabled humans to survive and thrive. In this sense, humor is proven to have healthy benefits for improving one’s mental health and strengthening one’s resilience.
Not only does humor improve one’s ability to relieve the cognitive stress in one’s life, it also helps to reduce the stress in one’s social life. In the article from Helpguide.org, the article states that the social benefits of laughter helps to strengthen relationships, attract others, enhance teamwork, helps defuse conflict, and promote group bonding. By using humor to diffuse potentially stressful situations in one’s social life, it may help to reduce the possibility for how that stress negatively affects a person’s physical or mental health. However, the text states that using an aggressive form of humor to cope with stressful situations may enhance personal feelings of well-being in the short run, but using this aggressive form of humor to cope may alienate others and have an adverse effect on valued relationships in the end. In other words, although humor may be used as a way to help reduce stress in social situations, the type of humor that is used may also have different outcomes.
Although there is substantial evidence for humor being beneficial in helping to reduce one’s stress and cope with adverse situations, there is still a lot of research to be done on the topic. It is interesting to read about what benefits humor has been found to have on an individual’s physical, mental, and social life. By using humor, one is able to separate them from a stressful situation and enable the person to survive in seemingly hopeless situations.
http://helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm
http://www.resiliencybuilder.com/pdfs/Using%20Humor%20to%20Cope.pdf
http://women.webmd.com/guide/give-your-body-boost-with-laughter