How to Be Reasonably Funny Midterm Practice

What is the difference between 'laughter' and 'mirth'?

Laughter is the physical act of laughing, while mirth refers to the emotional experience of joy or amusement.

What challenge does mirth present in an evolutionary context?

The challenge is understanding the purpose of the pleasure derived from mirth in an evolutionary universe.

Who were some ancient theorists of humor?

Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian.

What is the Superiority Model of humor theory?

It suggests that humor arises from feelings of superiority over others, with major proponents including Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Hobbes.

What does Hobbes' concept of 'sudden glory' refer to?

It refers to the surprise element in humor that contributes to feelings of mirth.

What is the Relief Model of humor theory?

It posits that humor provides relief from psychological tension, with key figures including Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Sigmund Freud.

What distinguishes Freud's view on humor?

Freud differentiates between mirth from jokes, the comic as a mental energy, and humor as an emotional experience.

What is the Incongruity Model of humor theory?

It suggests that humor arises from the discrepancy between expectations and reality, with key figures like Kant and Bergson.

What are the two flavors of incongruity theory?

1) Pure Incongruity, which is sufficient for mirth, and 2) Incongruity-Resolution, where the resolution of incongruity triggers mirth.

What is the Semantic Script Theory of Humor (SSTH)?

A theory that focuses on the incongruity in jokes and requires two opposing semantic scripts for a text to be considered humorous.

What are the three conditions of the Benign Violation Theory (BVT)?

1) A violation of a norm, 2) The situation appears benign, and 3) Both perceptions are understood simultaneously.

What is the Belief Debugging Theory (BDT)?

A theory suggesting humor occurs when a false belief is diagnosed in a mental space without strong negative emotions.

What is Utilitarianism in ethics?

A consequentialist moral system focused on maximizing happiness for the greatest number of people, with key figures like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.

What is the difference between Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism?

Act Utilitarianism evaluates individual actions for their utility, while Rule Utilitarianism assesses the utility of actions based on the rules they follow.

What are Kant's two types of imperatives?

Hypothetical imperatives, which are conditional, and categorical imperatives, which are unconditional moral laws.

What is the first formulation of Kant's Categorical Imperative?

Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

What is the Practical Imperative (PI) according to Kant?

It states that humanity should be treated as an end in itself and never merely as a means to an end.

What role does power play in humor ethics?

Power influences the ethical considerations and terminology used in humor, as discussed by Hannah Arendt.

What is the Pragma-Dialectical approach?

A method for critical discussions that emphasizes reasonableness in argumentation.

What are the Ten Commandments of Critical Discussion?

Guidelines for conducting fair and reasonable discussions, aimed at resolving disputes and fallacies.

What is the 'Goldilocks zone' in the context of BVT?

A conceptual space where humor is found to be benign yet violates norms, balancing safety and risk.

What does the term 'mirth' encompass in humor theory?

Mirth encompasses the emotional experience of joy or amusement that arises from humor.

What is the significance of the 'Seven Circumstances' in understanding benignity?

They provide a framework for analyzing what constitutes benignity in humor, affecting how humor is perceived.

What is the Porn & Popsicles Problem in BDT?

A challenge in the theory that questions how humor can be derived from morally questionable content.

Driving force of relief theory (spencer:)

Spencer: release of nervous energy

Driving force of relief theory (dewey:)

sudden release of stress

Driving force of relief theory (Freud:)

Freud distinguishes between mirth in response to jokes (suppressed feelings), the comic (energy used for thought) and humor (feeling emotions)

Driving force of incongruity theory (bergson)

Bergson: discrepancy between our expectation (or modeling, representation) and our perception of the world; mismatch between the rigid mechanical and life's vitality

Driving force of incongruity theory (Kant)

"In everything that is to excite a lively convulsive laugh there must be something absurd (in which the understanding, therefore, can find no satisfaction). Laughter is an affection arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing."

What does Kant say is necessary to excite a lively convulsive laugh?

There must be something absurd that the understanding cannot find satisfaction in.

What is laughter according to Kant?

An affection arising from the sudden transformation of a strained expectation into nothing.

Which modern models are based on incongruity theory?

SSTH and BVT

Do modern models like SSTH and BVT provide sufficient conditions for mirth?

No, they provide necessary conditions but not sufficient conditions.

Major players of SSTH

Victor Raskin (Semantic mechanisms of humor. 1985); Salvatore Attardo (Linguistic Theories of Humor. 1994)

Focus and limitations of SSTH:

incongruity-based, analysis-focused, text-only, model, that centers of jokes and joke-like texts - other humorous artifacts may be applicable by analogy or extension

Two conditions for a text to be a joke in SSTH:

1) Must be compatible with two scripts and 2) Those scripts must be "opposite"

Contrasting opposites:

Strikingly different (morning vs afternoon)

Contradicting opposites:

Both cannot be true (dead vs alive)

The Benign Violation Theory (BVT) author

Based on Tom Veach "A theory of humor" (1998)

three conditions that are allegedly individually necessary and jointly sufficient to create mirth (Veach)

1) violation of a rule, that 2) maintains the audience perception of predominant normality (safe), that is 3) understood simultaneously

Other major players in BVT

Peter McGraw and Caleb Warren

BVT claims that Humor occurs when three conditions are satisfied (Mcgraw and Warren:)

(1 - Norm Violation) something threatens one's sense of how the world "ought to be", (2 - Benign / Normal) the situation seems benign, and (3 - Simultaneous) a person sees both at the same time

The Belief Debugging Theory (BDT) authors

Hurley, Matthew M, D. C Dennett, and Reginald B Adams. 2011. Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind.

What is BDT based in

Based on human cognitive evolution theory, including the psychological modeling of heuristic search mechanisms in Just-In-Time-Spreading-Activation (JITSA) spaces.

BDT Rewards

Mirth serves as the rewards for debugging otherwise highly fallible fast heuristic reasoning

What does probability refer to in Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

The likelihood of an event or fact, which strengthens belief and invigorates ideas.

What is plausibility in the context of Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

The appearance of truth or believability, independent of actual probability, which makes a narrative seem natural and credible.

What does importance signify in Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

The significance of an action or event, which can derive from its nature, the people involved, or its consequences.

What is meant by proximity of time in Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

Events that are recent or imminent tend to have a stronger impact on the audience.

What does connection of place refer to in Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

Events that occur in locations familiar or relevant to the audience are more engaging.

What is the relation to the persons concerned in Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

The connection of the audience to the individuals involved in the event, whether through personal relationships, shared identity, or other ties.

What does interest in the consequences mean in Campbell's Seven Circumstances?

The degree to which the audience is personally affected by the outcomes of the event or action.

What are campbell's seven circumstances?

Probability:

Plausibility:

Importance:

Proximity of Time:

Connection of Place:

Relation to the Persons Concerned:

Interest in the Consequences:

According to the BDT, humor occurs when

1) an active element in a mental space that has 2) covertly entered that space and is 3) taken to be true (i.e., epistemically committed) within that space, 4) is diagnosed to be false in that space and 5) (trivially) the discovery is not accompanied by any (strong) negative emotional valence.

Who created Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham

Major players in Utilitarianism

Bentham and Mill

What is utilitarianism?

Utilitarianism (UT) is a consequentialist or teleological moral system: deriving the right rules of action from the anticipated consequences of these actions or their underlying principles; in the case of UT this is the anticipated "utility" of an action for the greatest amount of happiness of the greatest amount of people

Bentham UT vs Mill UT

Bentham's UT, pleasures are qualitatively the same, but judged via the hedonic calculus for their certainty, durability, amount of people they apply to, etc. Mill adds a "qualitative" dimension, distinguishing between higher and lower pleasure

UT Challengers

the city of happiness, the surgeon, two kinds of trolleys

Act Utilitarianism

assesses each separate act according to whether it maximizes pleasure over pain

Rule Utilitarianism

the morally right action is the one that if converted to a rule that is generally followed, would produce the most favorable balance of good over evil, everyone considered

Categorical Imperative

Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

Deontology

Approach to ethics that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to rules. Described as duty or obligation, because rules 'binds you to your duty'

Two kinds of imperatives

Hypothetical and Categorical

Hypothetical Imperative

Commands to do an action on the basis of having a desired end. "If you want y, then do x."

Applying CI

Suicide, Money Borrowing, Developing Talent, Duty of Sympathy, Lying

Practical Imperative

Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end