One viral video might leave you in stitches; another leaves you cold. Psychology researchers have worked out several theories of humor to explain why.
Articles on Jokes
Displaying 21 - 26 of 26 articles
Business Briefing: being funny with customers
The Conversation16.2 MB (download)
New research shows that humour can relieve tension for employees and increase customer satisfaction, just don't make jokes when it comes to offering apologies!
Disparagement humor makes a punchline out of a marginalized group. Racist or sexist jokes, for instance, aren’t just harmless fun – psychologists find they can foster discrimination.
No longer dismissed as an undesirable negative trait to be avoided, humor is having a heyday among experimental psychologists.
We start laughing at around 3 months of age. Women laugh more than men, but blokes tell more jokes. As the Melbourne International Comedy Festival begins, here’s the latest on mirth.
We are only just starting to understand the linguistic tools that get stuff done, move us to tears, bore us to death, or make us dizzy with delight.
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Senior Lecturer in History, Edge Hill University
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Associate Professor of Psychology, Fort Lewis College
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Senior Lecturer, School of Marketing, UNSW
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Senior Clinical Lecturer in Child Psychiatry, University of Aberdeen
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PhD Candidate, University of Leeds; Independent Social Research Foundation
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Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Grinnell College
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Professor in Professional Education and Leadership, School of Social Sciences, University of Stirling., University of Stirling
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Professor of Linguistics
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Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology & Psychopathology, University of Leeds
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Professor of Social Psychology, Western Carolina University
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Honorary Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
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Postdoctoral Researcher in Developmental Psychology, Cardiff University
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Professor of medieval German literature, UCL
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Lecturer in Performance, University of Salford
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Scientia Professor of Psychology, UNSW