Humor: The amusing side of the psychology of art and aesthetics

Humor was an interest of Berylne's new experimental aesthetics movement, but the psychology of aesthetics and humor has since drifted apart. To reunite them, we apply an aesthetics lens to some classic and modern findings in the psychology of humor, drawing parallels between humor and the broader psychology of aesthetics and the arts for aspects of the product (e.g., words, puns, and jokes), the experience (e.g., feeling amused, irritated, or embarrassed by jokes), and the audience (e.g., the massive individual differences in what people find funny). Its intrinsic interest aside, the psychology of humor reminds us of the sheer ubiquity of comic creative work and highlights the importance of amusing, playful, and lighthearted experiences of the arts.