Humor


     Humor is a concept humanity has been familiar with from very early stages in our development, however the scientific measurements of the process is just beyond its infancy in the grand scheme of things.
     What registers as being funny and why?  Why is smiling and laughing universally inborn?  What parts of the brain control registration and processing of jokes?  And finally, what parts of the brain control the motor functions seen through humor?  These questions will be addressed in the following areas of this site.

    Through the ages we have strived to keep laughing even in the face of impossible things.  Comedy has existed through Vaudevilles, circuses, plays, and stories all throughout humanities recorded history.  Even early TV and radio programming seemed to reach out to try and "tickle the funny bone" of the world.

 Eric The Farter

    Humor seems to be widely based on a cultural and personal basis.  What an American would find funny might not be the same as what somebody of Japanese culture might find comical.  American humor seems to be played off the misfortunes of others and usually has something to do with sex, violence, unexpected events, race,  age, or something taboo to societal norms.

for the love of God don't click HERE

Now see, that was funny. It combined a few key structures of humor including being unexpected, and taboo.

                                                 Brain                          

    The brain is the central control unit of the human body.  (yeah no kidding right?)  It controls every function carried out by us and our bodies including all that has to do with humor.  Information enters through our senses and is processed along the sensory nerve pathway along the outermost region of the lower brain called the brain stem. (shown in light blue in the diagram above to the right)  Then is sent along the sensory cortex, (back portion of the bright red strip on upper left diagram)  where it is processed by our conscious mind, then is sent back out through the motor cortex (above the light red strip in upper right diagram) where it is then shown as smiling or laughing and various other motions we can read.  Movement of facial muscles themselves are controlled by the sensory homunculus. (located at the front of the brain on both diagrams)

    As shown here the brain is clearly divided into two hemispheres each controlling separate characteristics about human thinking.  The left side of the brain is the logical literal thinking mind of math and science, where as the right side controls our artistic and creative thinking skills.  Humorous themes often try to play of both sides in order to be successful, making the observer pay careful attention to detail and perform a little reasoning in order to arrive at the key moment in the joke (punch line) where a reaction is then evoked such as laughing.

   Laughing and smiling are inborn traits in primates and humans alike.  Babies often smile or laugh when they receive attention or get what they want right from the start.  Evolution has given species a way of communicating to the parenting figure that what's being done to them is good or bad by giving simple gestures or sounds before they are able to process more advanced displays or language.
 
 

LINKS

Below are a list of LINKS to other Psychology sites if what I've said isn't enough for you . . .

History of Psychology
 American Journal of Psychotherapy
 The Brain
 CyberPsychology
 Theoretical Psychology