The Psychology of Humor: Basic Research and Translation

Abstract

This article discusses the psychology of humor, how it translates, and what it means to basic research. Humor is inherently ironic. It is obvious and instantly recognizable. Similar to beauty, we all intuitively “know” what humor is, yet we find it difficult to precisely define. Indeed, there is not a single definition of humor that is accepted by humor scholars across or even within disciplinary lines. Nevertheless, humor is thought to be a fundamental, intrinsic part of human nature, experienced in nearly every type of interpersonal relationship and having a far-reaching impact on daily life. People often scoff at scholarly attempts to study humor because the production and experience of humor are themselves playful and frivolous. Thus, it seems that humor must naturally elude explanation by “serious” scientific methods. People often scoff at scholarly attempts to study humor because the production and experience of humor are themselves playful and frivolous. Thus, it seems that humor must naturally elude explanation by “serious” scientific methods. By putting humor under the “scientific microscope,” the humorless scholar misses the point and fails to appreciate its essence. The centrality of humor to the human experience makes psychological research on humor naturally translational, applicable for practical interventions. The contributions in this volume reflect the topical, disciplinary, and methodological diversity of psychological research on humor as well as a diversity of the translational impacts. Some articles focus on the mental health benefits of humor interventions, emphasizing practical ways that practitioners could more effectively use humor. Others consider humor as a personality trait focusing on correlates of different adaptive and maladaptive humor styles. They emphasize the translational value of interventions that foster strengths of character and the importance of incorporating humor styles into clinical assessment and intervention.

Full text

INTRODUCTION
The Psychology of Humor: Basic Research
and Translation
Thomas E. Ford
Western Carolina University
Tracey Platt
University of Zurich
Kyle Richardson
University of Alabama
Raymond Tucker
Oklahoma State University
Humor is inherently ironic. It is obvious and
instantly recognizable (Berlyne, 1972). Similar
to beauty, we all intuitively “know” what humor
is, yet we find it difficult to precisely define
(McGhee, 1979). Indeed, there is not a single
definition of humor that is accepted by humor
scholars across or even within disciplinary lines
(Ruch, 1998). Nevertheless, humor is thought to
be a fundamental, intrinsic part of human na-
ture, experienced in nearly every type of inter-
personal relationship and having a far-reaching
impact on daily life (Lefcourt, 2001;Martin,
2007). Accordingly, humor is a topic of popular
interest that has captured the imagination and
critical attention of scholars from multiple dis-
ciplines dating back to the writings of the clas-
sical Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle.
People often scoff at scholarly attempts to
study humor because the production and expe-
rience of humor are themselves playful and
frivolous. Thus, it seems that humor must nat-
urally elude explanation by “serious” scientific
methods. By putting humor under the “scientific
microscope,” the humorless scholar misses the
point and fails to appreciate its essence. This
incredulity has been humorously and famously
expressed by Elwyn B. White (1941), who
quipped that “Humor can be dissected, as a frog
can, but the thing dies in the process and the
innards are discouraging to any but the pure
scientific mind” (p. xvii). However, as Eyes-
enck (1972) noted, we can confidently dismiss
such “man-in-the-street” renunciations; they
have been encountered by every scientist at-
tempting to extend the scope of their inquiries
into new fields.
Common sense, “man-in-the-street” explana-
tions for a host of psychological phenomena
have proven to be overly simplistic or simply
wrong. Indeed, it has been only through rigor-
ous scientific investigation that psychologists
have been able to address a diversity of complex
issues and questions such as the cognitive and
physiological processes underlying the experi-
ence of humor, the functions of humor for psy-
chological and physical well being, and the
mechanisms by which humor affects interper-
sonal and intergroup relationships. By subject-
ing humor to rigorous scholarly inquiry, psy-
chologists and other scholars have illuminated
the integral role that humor plays in the human
experience. It is from this substantial body of
academic endeavor that we are now able to
explore the diversity of the translational appli-
cations to the psychology of humor.
The centrality of humor to the human expe-
rience makes psychological research on humor
naturally translational, applicable for practical
interventions, and collective action for social
change. For instance, although basic research on
the relationship between humor and mental and
physical health is relatively young (emerging as
positive psychology gained prominence in the
Thomas E. Ford served as special issue editor, and Tracey
Platt, Kyle Richardson, and Raymond Tucker were associ-
ate editors. Authors’ names appear in alphabetical order;
first authorship is shared among all authors.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Thomas E. Ford, Department of Psychology, 91
Killian Building Lane, Western Carolina University, Cullo-
whee, NC 28723. E-mail: tford@wcu.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Translational Issues in Psychological Science © 2016 American Psychological Association
2016, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1–3 2332-2136/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000066
1

1990s), mental health practitioners actively in-
corporate humor-based therapies in their prac-
tices (e.g., Ruch & McGhee, 2014;Ventis, Hig-
bee, & Murdock, 2001). Likewise, medical
practitioners have been inspired by findings that
humor interventions can promote healthy aging
(Vaillant, 2002) and better general health (e.g.,
Martin & Lefcourt, 2004). The expression of
humor, namely laughter, is associated in partic-
ular with better cardiovascular health (e.g.,
Miller & Fry, 2009;Lockwood & Yoshimura,
2014) and respiratory health (Kimata, 2004). In
addition, social psychological research has con-
tributed to a growing public sentiment ex-
pressed in the mass media that disparagement
humor can have detrimental effects on social
relations and should not be condoned and dis-
missed as “just a joke” (e.g., Greengross, 2011).
The contributions in this volume reflect the
topical, disciplinary, and methodological diver-
sity of psychological research on humor as well
as a diversity of the translational impacts. Some
articles focus on the mental health benefits of
humor interventions, emphasizing practical
ways that practitioners could more effectively
use humor. Others consider humor as a person-
ality trait focusing on correlates of different
adaptive and maladaptive humor styles. They
emphasize the translational value of interven-
tions that foster strengths of character and the
importance of incorporating humor styles into
clinical assessment and intervention. Finally,
some articles focus on the social consequences
of humor, highlighting the important functions
that antisocial and disparaging humor can play
in legitimizing prejudice and in potentially sub-
verting prejudice and antisocial norms. They
emphasize the translational impact of humor
research for informing preventative interven-
tions and the relevance of that research for
shaping public discourse and collective action.
The focus of humor research has a particular
emphasis on translation that will appeal to basic
and applied researchers in all areas of psychol-
ogy, mental health professionals, educators, and
public officials. The graduate student associate
editors of this special issue each have training
and expertise in different psychological disci-
plines, ensuring that research from a broad
range of topical focus, theoretical perspectives,
and methodology were given serious consider-
ation for this special issue. The articles were
chosen to stimulate readers to think seriously
about humor and introduce them to the wide-
spread research on the psychology of humor. In
addition, we hope this special issue will inspire
greater interest in humor research and an appre-
ciation for the importance and relevance of hu-
mor to mainstream psychology.
Translational Issues in Psychological Sci-
ence provides a unique opportunity for graduate
students and postdoctoral fellows to receive
training in all phases of the peer review process.
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows au-
thored or coauthored all of the articles appear-
ing in this volume; they also served as associate
editors and reviewers. Associate editors gained
valuable exposure and insight about the edito-
rial process, a process that will become central
to their developing careers as research psychol-
ogists. They also gained invaluable practice
critically evaluating professional manuscripts
for scientific merit and theoretical contribution
as well as practice communicating their cri-
tiques of research with authors in a professional
manner.
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2 INTRODUCTION
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
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Received December 22, 2015
Accepted December 22, 2015 䡲
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3INTRODUCTION
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