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Being funny: A selectionist account of humor production
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Siegfried Dewitte
and
Tom Verguts
Published/Copyright:
February 27, 2008
Abstract
In this paper, we develop a theory to explain why some people possess a good sense of humor (i.e., are funny) while others do not. In essence, the theory follows the general selectionist (Donahoe and Palmer 1994) scheme of response generation and selection: People who both generate a lot of jokes and are sensitive to negative appraisal will be considered to be humorous by their peers. Data to test this theory are described and analyzed. Most results are in accord with our theory and alternative explanations are ruled out.
Published Online: 2008-02-27
Published in Print: 2001-06-05
© Walter de Gruyter
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