The Basic Humor Process : A Cognitive-Shift Theory and the Case Against Incongruity.

Intro -- Preface -- PART 1. Preliminaries -- Chapter 1. The mystery of humor and sundry further matters -- 1. The mystery of humor -- 2. The anti-essentialist approach -- 3. Humor processes and the basic humor process -- 4. The expressions "a particular experience of humor," "an episode of humor," "the experience of humor," and "humor" -- 5. Stimulus side and response side -- 6. Stimulus-side bias -- 7. The terms "laughter" and "amusement" -- 8. The subjective character of humor -- 9. The problem of consciousness -- Chapter 2. The fundamental question of humor theory -- 1. A question which must wait: that of the descriptive definition of humor -- 2. Peripheral cases -- 3. Further questions which must wait -- 4. Questions which will remain after the basic humor process has been identified -- PART 2. Theory L and reason to conclude it is true -- Chapter 3. Theory L -- 1. The initial stage of the basic humor process -- 2. The mid-process transition -- 3. The final stage -- 4. Theory L in sum -- 5. Classification of the theory -- 6. Major implications -- 7. The major positive thesis of this treatise -- Chapter 4. The laughter of humor, relaxation, and pleasure -- 1. Laughter and relaxation -- 2. Laughter and the expression of "relief" -- 3. Unrelaxation of the levels which must be posited: where it might be supposed to originate -- 4. Laughter and the expression of pleasure -- Chapter 5. The inapplicability of standard criticisms of "relief" theories -- 1. The straight-man level, the insider level, and the quasi straight-man level -- 2. Morreall on "relief" theories -- Chapter 6. The explanatory power of theory L -- 1. Analyses of examples -- 2. Theory L and the global phenomenon of humor -- 3. The unity and variety of the phenomenon of humor -- 4. Theory L and evolution -- PART 3. Incongruity theory and reason to conclude it is unsound.

Chapter 7. Incongruity theory and the concept of incongruity -- 1. The basic incongruity thesis, the ultimate incongruity thesis, and the major negative thesis of this treatise -- 2. Theory L and incongruity theory -- 3. The dictionary definition of incongruity -- 4. McGhee's definition in terms of ridiculousness -- 5. Extended definitions -- 6. Restricted definitions -- 7. Total redefinitions -- 8. McGhee's formal definition -- 9. The definition to be used here -- Chapter 8. First probe of incongruity theory: two complementary arguments -- 1. The incongruities that appear in examples of humor: irrelevant or inessential almost without exception -- 2. The view from the subject's point of view and the fallacy of mistaken point of view -- Chapter 9. Second probe of incongruity theory: its collapse into cognitive-shift theory -- 1. Elementary incongruity theory -- 2. Morreall's defense of elementary incongruity theory -- 3. The fantasy element in humor and "funny incongruity" -- 4. The phenomenon of the delicious image -- 5. Incongruity-and-resolution theory -- 6. The collapse of elementary incongruity theory -- 7. The collapse of incongruity-and-resolution theory -- 8. An argument against the strong version of incongruity-and- resolution theory -- Chapter 10. Third probe of incongruity theory: its lack of explanatory power -- 1. The term/relation fallacy -- 2. Analysis of the easy-and-breezy school -- 3. Attempts by incongruists to analyze examples -- 4. Ziv on "local logic" -- 5. Incongruity theory and the global phenomenon of humor -- Chapter 11. Fourth probe of incongruity theory: sundry arguments and points -- 1. The question of order of attention in processing a humor stimulus -- 2. Devices which draw attention from incongruities -- 3. Counterexamples to incongruity theory -- 4. Incongruity theory and evolution.

5. The precise locus of the mystery of humor -- 6. The appeal of incongruity theory -- 7. Psychological experiments in incongruity theory -- PART 4. Further development -- Chapter 12. Kant and Koestler on humor -- 1. Kant -- 2. Koestler -- Chapter 13. The ultimate incongruity thesis and concluding reflections -- 1. The failure of the ultimate incongruity thesis -- 2. The current state of research into the basic humor process -- Summary of the case for theory L -- References -- Permissions -- Index.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.