Tschacher Wolfgang, Haken Hermann
Department of Experimental Psychology, University Hospital of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3060 Bern, Switzerland.
Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany.
Entropy (Basel). 2023 Feb 13;25(2):341. doi: 10.3390/e25020341.
A common assumption of psychological theories of humor is that experienced funniness results from an incongruity between stimuli provided by a verbal joke or visual pun, followed by a sudden, surprising resolution of incongruity. In the perspective of complexity science, this characteristic incongruity-resolution sequence is modeled by a phase transition, where an initial attractor-like script, suggested by the initial joke information, is suddenly destructed, and in the course of resolution replaced by a less probable novel script. The transition from the initial to the enforced final script was modeled as a succession of two attractors with different minimum potentials, during which free energy becomes available to the joke recipient. Hypotheses derived from the model were tested in an empirical study where participants rated the funniness of visual puns. It was found, consistent with the model, that the extent of incongruity and the abruptness of resolution were associated with reported funniness, and with social factors, such as disparagement () added to humor responses. The model suggests explanations as to why bistable puns and phase transitions in conventional problem solving, albeit also based on phase transitions, are generally less funny. We proposed that findings from the model can be transferred to decision processes and mental change dynamics in psychotherapy.
幽默心理学理论的一个常见假设是，体验到的滑稽感源于言语笑话或视觉双关语所提供的刺激之间的不协调，随后是不协调的突然、惊人的解决。从复杂性科学的角度来看，这种典型的不协调 - 解决序列由一个相变来建模，其中由初始笑话信息暗示的初始吸引子状脚本突然被破坏，并在解决过程中被一个可能性较小的新脚本所取代。从初始脚本到强制最终脚本的转变被建模为具有不同最小势能的两个吸引子的连续过程，在此期间，自由能可供笑话接受者使用。从该模型得出的假设在一项实证研究中得到了检验，在该研究中，参与者对视觉双关语的滑稽程度进行了评分。结果发现，与该模型一致的是，不协调的程度和解决的突然性与报告的滑稽感相关，也与社会因素相关，比如幽默反应中添加的贬低意味。该模型解释了为什么双稳态双关语以及传统问题解决中的相变虽然也基于相变，但通常不那么有趣。我们提出，该模型的研究结果可以应用于心理治疗中的决策过程和心理变化动态。
