Laughter Consciousnes: A new paradigm

[sunsplash1]

Laughter all part of the mind, researcher says

An Australian researcher who is trying to unravel the thought patterns that underpin humour says laughter involves a unique form of consciousness.

Ann Hale, a medical anthropologist from the University of Sydney, spoke about the social and cultural context of laughter at a recent conference of the Australian Anthropological Society in Cairns.

She believes jokes rely on the juxtaposition of two mismatched or incompatible concepts.

For example, she tells the joke about the prisoner who plays cards with his wardens. But the prisoner cheats, so they kick him out of prison.

"Prisons have rules that they lock you up," Ms Hale said.

"But if you cheat you get kicked out. So you have two concepts there."

The same applies to slapstick humour.

She says when we laugh at someone falling over, it is not the process of falling that tickles our funny bone but the attempt to stay upright.

"What makes people laugh at slapstick is not falling off the tightrope, but what you do to stay on," she said.

"We've got an idea that this is what you look like when you're upright and here's somebody trying to stay upright.

"It's within the same concept but it's incongruous, it's the mismatch ... it's not the fact that you've fallen onto your backside."
Babies

Ms Hale says research has shown we instinctively recognise these "incompatible contexts" in the first year of life.

"Research shows that if a mother crawls towards the edge of the cot the baby will laugh because it interferes with the convention that babies crawl, mothers walk," she said.

It also suggests that we respond to contextual mismatches without having to "get" the joke.

She says these thought processes have been compared to the reactions of highly trained sports people, like the tennis player who is in position to return a serve "before the brain kicks in."

Ms Hale says laughter is essential because it provides a cognitive respite.

"Laughter offers a temporary respite from the everyday clutter of thought. It's a different sort of consciousness with is uncluttered by the everyday 'shoulds' and 'buts'," she said.

Ms Hale believes laughter is a uniquely human talent that operates within a cultural context but also transcends culture.

"It's a kind of perception, a recognition," she said.

"Understanding laughter and humour might get us closer to looking at what consciousness is and [providing] another paradigm."

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2006/1753373.htm

I kind of get the slapstick humour and different consciousness link and the idea of cognitive respite is well funny but the prison joke? Lame as...

 

[jefflovestone]

I kind of get the slapstick humour and different consciousness link and the idea of cognitive respite is well funny but the prison joke? Lame as...

To be honest, I don't "get" the slapstick point either. Not all falling down in slapstick involves a comedic struggle to remain upright etc., etc.

Also, this niggled me too:

Research shows that if a mother crawls towards the edge of the cot the baby will laugh because it interferes with the convention that babies crawl, mothers walk," she said.

Just how do they know this? Did the babies tell them it interfered with their understanding that babies crawl and mothers walk? How was this researched?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Research shows that if a mother crawls towards the edge of the cot the baby will laugh because it interferes with the convention that babies crawl, mothers walk," she said.

Just how do they know this? Did the babies tell them it interfered with their understanding that babies crawl and mothers walk? How was this researched?

:lol:

Honestly, babies will laugh at anything.

 

[sunsplash1]

Yep, JLS I agree. Stepping on bananna skin gag (back inthe olde days when the working classes could afford them).

It's funny regardless of whether the slipee falls on a**e, or not. Mind you, it may be funnier if a**e event occurs. It may however be funnier, the longer it takes to fall?

 

[jefflovestone]

Research shows that if a mother crawls towards the edge of the cot the baby will laugh because it interferes with the convention that babies crawl, mothers walk," she said.

Just how do they know this? Did the babies tell them it interfered with their understanding that babies crawl and mothers walk? How was this researched?

:lol:

Honestly, babies will laugh at anything.

And cry at anything too!

 

[jefflovestone]

Yep, JLS I agree. Stepping on bananna skin gag (back inthe olde days when the working classes could afford them).

It may however be funnier, the longer it takes to fall?

I don't know whether that's necessarily the case though. I think it's irrelevant as the basic premise seems suspect to me. What makes things funny if they don't have that "juxtaposition of two mismatched or incompatible concepts"? I can see how this can work in a sense with some forms of comedy, but all of them?