Possible EXAM 1 Questions

PSY 400

 

1. There was this little boy who never spoke a word his entire life. One day, when he was nine, he was sitting with his family at the dinner table and he said, "This roast beef stinks." His mother almost fell over and screamed, "How come you never said anything before?" Her son replied, "Up until now the food has been pretty good."

Explain why someone might find the above joke humorous in terms of incongruity-resolution. Include the concept of simultaneity in your answer.

2. A guy meets a girl at a nightclub and she invites him back to her place for the night. Her parents are out of town and this is the perfect opportunity. They got back to her house and they go into her bedroom, and when the guy walks in the door he notices all these fluffy toys. There's hundreds of them, fluffy toys on top of the wardrobe, fluffy toys on the bookshelf and window sill, there's more on the floor, and of course fluffy toys all over the bed. They clear off the bed and go at it.
Later, after the sex, he turns to her and asks, "well, how was I?"

She says, "Well, you can take anything from the bottom shelf."

Explain why someone might find the above joke humorous in terms of incongruity-resolution. Include the concept of simultaneity in your answer.

3. a) According to incongruity-resolution, why are many humorous items not as funny the second or third time we are exposed to them?

b) According to Freud, why are many humorous items not as funny the second or third time we are exposed to them?

c) Why might a humorous item continue to be amusing to an individual for a long period of time? Use research and/or theory to support your answer.

4. From all you have read and heard so far this term about humor, do you think humor appreciation is more a cognitive phenomenon or more a motivational phenomenon? Use course material to defend one position or the other.

5. Why do we laugh at people who make fools of themselves? Yes, it might make us feel better about ourselves, but why should we find it amusing?

6. a) Give an example or explain how cognitive factors can follow an inverted-U relationship in humor.

b) Give an example or explain how motivational factors can follow an inverted-U relationship in humor.

7. You are on an airplane.

a) Give an example of incongruity without resolution that might occur on the plane.
b) Give an example of incongruity with resolution that might occur.
c) Why might someone find your second example amusing?
d) Why might someone else not find your second example amusing?

8. Do you think being in a certain frame of mind is a necessary and/or sufficient condition for humor appreciation? Explain.

9. a) How is humor appreciation like problem-solving?

b) Why don't we typically find the solving of a problem humorous?

c) When might we find the solving of a problem humorous?

10. a) What can affect the level of "V" in Veatch's theory of humor? Explain.

b) What does Veatch mean when he says "humor is affective absurdity"?

11. What, if anything, do the psychoanalytic theories and the incongruity-resolution theories share in common as necessary or sufficient conditions of humor? Explain.

12. Choose an incongruity-resolution theory other than Veatch's. In terms of that theory, explain why a situation might contain the elements of incongruity, resolution and simultaneity but still not be perceived as humorous.

13. Identify the theory of humor appreciation that you believe does the best job of explaining why we find some things funny. (You may not like any of them, but pick one.) Use the characteristics of a good theory we discussed at the beginning of the term to describe the strengths and weaknesses of that theory.

14. a) What is the difference between incongruity and ambiguity?

b) Is there ambiguity in a pun? Explain. Is there incongruity in a pun? Explain.

c) Tell me a pun. Why might that be amusing to some people?

15. Some people found it amusing when they encountered the highly discrepant weight in the weight-judging experiments.

a) Why might incongruity-resolution theorists have some difficulty explaining this result?

b) Use one incongruity-resolution theory to describe how it might account for the amusement in these experiments.