I am really awesome with babies and have made them laugh quite deeply that I was forced to actually stop for fear that they might stop breathing (baby laughter is best sound in existence), but I believe it to be a signal of learning as they interact with and respond to others that strengthens their social and cognitive development. My experience with babies is usually a response to sounds and the temporary 'shock' or pop from sounds that can put them into hysterics. It is more the action that they respond to and any relief is usually the outcome but not the cause or what initiates humour.

I work in a national literacy program for children and one aspect of my role is to train parents and early childhood educators to read to babies because there is a misconception that they do not actually understand being so small. Reading to children actually benefits brain development and the first several years requires positive stimulation as the synapses network begin to form prior to pruning as the child grows. It is the visual, auditory and somatosensory that stimulate activity in the brain and while they may not understand what is actually be said, reading to babies is key to early cognitive development and I believe humour is another and why the PACE theory (appropriate attachment necessary for development) requires playfulness. Thus play theory I think is likely.

Humour is a type of intelligence, even as adults it is a way of communicating. Babies are laughing at something they know is silly, that it is not real but present. The "peek a boo" has been studied to show an anticipation that they will return and sharing a type of knowledge that it is just a trick.

Any condemnation or prevention of laughter and humour to me immoral.

Shit, I'm getting clucky.

Of the four, 3 are closely related. Only incongruity stands alone.
Play, superiority and relief are all linked if you think about it.

Shit, I'm getting clucky. — TimeLine

Clucky is attractive on you. (L)

I am really awesome with babies and have made them laugh quite deeply that I was forced to actually stop for fear that they might stop breathing (baby laughter is best sound in existence) — TimeLine

I am awesome with babies because I am very warm and I put them to sleep. The older I've gotten, the more I've liked them. You're right about their laughter. When I look at a baby, I see their mind working as they create the world. Imagine the dedication and intelligence it takes to do that.

Thus play theory I think is likely. — TimeLine

I agree. I am a playful person. For me, the place funniness comes from is the same place playfulness does. It is also intimately tied to intellect. A playful intellect is different from a serious one. Not better, but it goes to different places. It can make your mind more powerful than your intelligence alone is. I've noticed that my understanding of the world is not as deep as some people I know, it is shallower but more wide-ranging. I'm a jack of all intellectual trades, a master of none. I think it is tied to curiosity and originality.

But you're not funny? :D More to the point, when you say:

It can make your mind more powerful than your intelligence alone is. — T Clark

And then:

It is also intimately tied to intellect. — T Clark

How does that work, exactly? Are you saying humour and cognition are mutually exclusive?

It can be related to the Superiority Theory of humor, but I think there is "Schadenfreude humor", amusement gained at the significant expense of other people -- ideally, people we don't like all that much. Mel Brooks once said, "if I have a hangnail, that's tragedy, If you fall into a sewer, that's hilarious" -- assuming one is not fond of the falling-into-the-sewer person.

Schadenfreude humor relies on the edge of certain kinds of jokes--the cruel, unkind, cut. Wicked jokes about the president (whoever the president is, not just Trump) are made by people who heartily dislike the 1600 Pennsylvania resident. Racist, sexist, homophobic, or crip jokes are made against classes of people one doesn't especially like, or (as per the Superiority Theory) one feels superior to. In these times, of course, one is not supposed to feel superior to anyone, and certainly one is not supposed to repeat jokes which highlight any race's/gender's/orientation's/state of ability's deficiencies.

All of which eliminates a lot of great jokes, and encourages us to overlook everyone's manifold deficiencies.

A Catholic priest and a rabbi were traveling together with President Trump, when their car broke down. The three men went up to a near-by farm house and asked about shelter for the night.
The humble farmer said, "I am happy to give you shelter, but I have room in the house for only two of you. One of you will have to sleep in the barn.

The Catholic priest immediately volunteered to sleep in the barn. "I grew up on a farm, and sleeping on a bed of hay in the barn will not be a problem." So everyone went to bed. An hour later there was a knock on the door. The priest came in and said, "I am sorry, but there are rats crawling around in the hay, and I just can't sleep with rats. Can someone else sleep in the barn?" The Rabbi said, "I come from poor people in New York and have spent many a night with rats crawling around." Everybody went back to bed. An hour later, there was a knock on the door. The Rabbi said, "I am sorry, but there are pigs in the barn -- an animal I find totally unclean. I just can't sleep with pigs." President Trump now stepped forward and said, "there is nothing I can't do. I'll sleep wonderfully with the rats and the pigs. It will be truly great." Everybody went back to bed.

An hour later there was a knock on the door. It was the rats and the pigs.

What I think is worse are insulting jokes amongst friends or co-workers; I’ve never been partial to those. They seem to reveal insecurity.

Humor as relief, is relief from stress. I think this is possible because humor has the involuntary effect of making another person laugh. This bodily effect can disrupt the effects of stress causing relief, even if it is only momentary, when it is effective.

Humor can also cut and be deeply mocking, a form of relief as retribution. Dialogue between two people can be bitter and yet cause different forms of relief but what two people have to say to each other. I have been through some of these barbed conversations, however, none to the fencing levels of George and Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf"

Martha: Oh-ho, you pig.
George: Oink, oink.
Martha: Fix me another drink… lover.
George: My God, you can swill it down, can't you?
Martha: Well, I'm thirsty.
George: Oh, Jesus.
Martha: Look, sweetheart, I can drink you under any goddamn table you want, so don't worry about me.
George: I gave you the prize years ago, Martha. There isn't an abomination award going that you haven't won.
Martha: I swear to God George, if you even existed I'd divorce you.

Of course this is why make-up sex is the best.

incongruity theory — Purple Pond

That one seems best to me.

Clucky is attractive on you. (L) — ArguingWAristotleTiff

Everyone thinks I would be an awesome mum because I am so good with kids being so playful as a person, but that is not going to happen. I'm actually on the adoption list as a candidate given my professional history with kids so I think in about a year or two I may have an adopted bub. I want a little boy, raise him as a feminist. :D

How does that work, exactly? Are you saying humour and cognition are mutually exclusive? — TimeLine

A lot of humor deals with putting things together that don't seem to belong. For me, the same is true for poetry and writing - that's where metaphor, symbolism comes from. And that's one of the places good original thought comes from. I love the way the mind takes everything, mixes it up, and puts it back out in ways I would never expect. That's the best thing about thinking - when you get an idea and then think - where the hell did that come from.

I'm actually on the adoption list as a candidate given my professional history with kids so I think in about a year or two I may have an adopted bub. — TimeLine

I wish you the best in your endeavors. (L)

I don't know about this relief theory of humour. When mummy used to play peekaboo with me, I would never laugh at mummy's face out of relief, but because she had such a stupid face. The relief came when she hid it behind her hands.

Wow, you must have an amazing memory!

Do you agree with the relief theory of humor? Do any of the theories of humor appeal to you? — Purple Pond

I think humor is a partly a form of entertainment and/or escapism. We laugh at certain jokes because they are kind of cute or clever, much as we are amused when we see a pet do some interesting trick or action that imitates our behavior, however other jokes we laugh at because they are about something messed up in our lives and it is hard to talk about it through other means. Gallows humor is one example where people joke about violent or other unsettling subject matter in which they themselves have problems with or are not supposed to really talk about the problem at all. In this way humor might be used to either to try to talk about a problem they are trying to deal with or at least as a way to de-stress themselves by somewhat talking about it, even if the method of communication is unconventional.

(An example of gallows humor)


Since I think you sort of addressed the fact that humor as some 'entertainment' value, I think you only need to consider it's aspect as a means of communication as well.

Wow, you must have an amazing memory! — Purple Pond

No, he has mummy issues.