HUMOUR ANALYSED.
W.E-A. LECTURE. The second lecture of the season was delivered in the Borough Chambers on Wednesday night, Mr R. McAllister being iii the chair. There, was an attendance of about thirty members. The subject chosen was the Psycholody of Humour, and in opening, the lecturer (Mr Ernest Mander) pointed out that there are four distinct elements of humour, which he called ridicule, fun, wit and gratification. These elements were sometimes found separately, but usuaPy a joke consisted of two or more kinds of humour combined. RIDICULE. All humour is a, product of the relations between man and society, between the individual and the herd. Ridicule is, essentially, the laughter of the herd at some one who departs from the herd custom—a sort of corrective, tending to bring the person back on toi the beaten track. Probably ridicule is the most powerful instru'inent society possesses for securing compliance with her customs and traditions. Where even persecution "ails to bring the unconventional- person to heel, ridicule may succeed. But society is a conservative old thing; and shie laughs at almost anything which is new or unusual. For example, when tlie Boy Scout movement was in its infancy in England, the Scouts began to appear in public bare-kneed. But this was contrary to the herd-cus-tom; so all the other boys laughed at them. In the same way the first people to appear with umbrellas or bicy- - cles were made the butt of ridicule; and in the same way again, we tend to ridicule vegetarians to-day—not because there is anything inherently foolish in their theories, but simply and solely because “it isn’t done” by our particular herd. Anything which is contrary to. the herd-usage is felt to be ridiculous by the herd. It is ridiculous simply because we are not used to it; it “isn’t done.” FUN. ' The second element in is Fun. Fun consists in saying or doing something offensive—or something which would be offensive if it were seriously intended! —but without any malice' or ill-will. Just as puppies pretend to bite one another in play, so human beings may enjoy a sort of sham-fighting with their tongues. Thus, you meet, a friend carrying a new umbrella—and ask him. where he “found" it, or even where he stole it. Or in a friendly game of cairds, one may playfully suggest that he thinks another must be cheating. That would be a terrible accusation to make ,if the joker were in earnest. Fun, then, is like showing how nasty one could be—if one wanted to! Generally speaking, said Mr Mander, men have a stronger sense of fun than women; they are more playful, and take more pleasure in shaml-fighting. A woman tends to lose sight of the fact that it is only mock-warfare; so< it is not always safe to chaff a woman—she is apt to take, it seriously.
WIT. The third element is Wit. In fun we say something offensive without meaning it; in Wit we mean and imply something offensive without, actually saying ,it. Wit depends upon the ambiguity of language; and on tbe fact that! by a play on words or otherwise, it is possible to convey some meaning which offends against the herd conventions—without committing, oneself- In true wit the way of escape is always kept open; the second meaning may be offensive, but the joker can always protest that he intended the first and perfectly inoffensive meaning. GRATIFICATION. The fourth element in humour is the means it affords u/s of indulging in some secret gratification of a primary “interest” which is prohibited by social convention. The social convention forbids us to display an open interest in sex; and it forbids us to claim superiority over others. Dealing with the latter case the lecturer said that much of the pleasure we get out of jokes is due to the. gratification of our instinctive longing to prove ourselves superior to someone else. Witnessing another’s folly makes us feel wise by the comparison; witnessing
another’s minor misfortune makes us feel superior to him. Who has not laughed at a man chasing his hait on a windy day P When another person is made to look small, We feel big in comparison—and that is the secret of the gratification we get from many jokes. The next lecture will be on the Psychology of Advertising.
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Shannon News, 24 April 1923, Page 4
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723HUMOUR ANALYSED. Shannon News, 24 April 1923, Page 4
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