Misattribution theory of humor
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Misattribution is one of many
Tendentious vs. innocuous humor
Freud made a key distinction between tendentious and non-tendentious humor. Tendentious humor involves a "victim", someone at whose expense we laugh. Non-tendentious humor does not require a victim. This innocuous humor typically depends on wordplay, and Freud believed it has only modest power to evoke amusement. Tendentious humor, then, is the only kind that can evoke big laughs. However, Freud believed a mixture of both tendentious and non-tendentious humor is required to keep the tendentious humor from becoming too offensive or demeaning to its victim. The innocent jokework of the innocuous humor would mask the otherwise hostile joke and therefore "bribe" our senses, allowing us to laugh at what would otherwise be socially unacceptable. Therefore, we often think we are laughing at innocuous jokes, but what really makes them funny is their socially unacceptable nature hidden below the surface.
Empirical study
To further examine Freud's concepts,
Example in today's comedy
Sitcom and
Similar analysis can be applied to issues involving racial discrimination, sexual deviance, drug abuse, and other controversial issues.
See also
References
- Freud, S. (2008). Wit and its relation to the unconscious (A. A. Brill, trans.) Stilwell, Kansas: Digireads.com Publishing. (Original work published 1905).
- Zillman, D. (2000). Humor and comedy. In D. Zillmann & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media entertainment: The psychology of its appeal (pp. 37–57). Mahway, New Jersey: Erlbaum.