Why is Jokes So Funny?
Humour or comedy is the tendency for experiences to elicit amusing and give pleasure. The word comes from the Greek humour, the natural balance of bodily fluids, called humors, controlled by the balancing of the various emotions and health. The human brain is designed to detect the significance of these bodily humours through an involuntary process of responding to them. The way in which we react to these funny feelings is what distinguishes us from others.
Humorous moments are a fundamental part of human nature, which we find entertaining and make us laugh. Comedy, or the act of ironic enjoyment is a fundamental part of human culture and is used to enhance communication between people. A joke involves two or more people sharing in an interesting and amusing experience that involves the use of verbal wit, exaggeration, sarcasm and other styles of verbal interaction. The experience involves another person’s reaction to the events, which may be humorous, cynical or sad. When the events are funny, the other person will likely respond with amusement or mild disapproval.
When people are exposed to funny things, they tend to have greater amounts of dopamine released into their brains. This makes them happier and can also suppress the desire for food or alcohol. The release of dopamine can make a joke funnier when the speaker adds in exaggerated description and some physical movement or exaggeration. Real-life examples include people who find certain things funny, such as the way cars drive around the bend or the way a frog hops from one foot to the other on its hind legs. A lot of laughter occurs when these things are repeated by the speaker. The effect has been scientifically proven to occur because dopamine is the neurotransmitter found in the brain that carries messages from nerve to nerve.
It is interesting to note that sometimes humorous complaints are not really humorous at all. An example of this is when someone makes a sexual comment to another person or when a performer makes exaggerated sexual innuendos. Humor is subjective, depending on the audience and the intention of the comedian. For example, it may be funny to make a sexual comment to another, but it may not be humorous to make sexual innuendos towards another person. This is why there are funny games on sites to entertain those who cannot find the courage to tell jokes in public.
Another explanation of the humor arises from cognitive theories. According to this theory, humor stems from cognitive processes involving pattern recognition and categorization. Cognitive theories also suggest that some forms of humor are learned, such as by watching adults react to a situation while they are not consciously aware of their behavior. For example, you might observe two grown adults watching an event that involves only a slight variation of the original situation; the adults will both react with amusement or disgust depending on the gender of the subject and the culture of the society in which the event occurs.
The above examples can provide a starting point for understanding the relationship between laughter and humour. Humor has a variety of underlying causes, some of which are sociological, others psychological. It can also be motivated by something as simple as a desire to escape from real or painful situations. Even impersonal things can become funny through the right combination of facial expressions, body language, tone of voice and other things. The key to understanding whether a joke is funny or just a harmless observation, is understanding that a joke is only funny when a reasonable person would find it to be so.
