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A Behavior Analytic Account of Humor Responses: Taking a Joke Way Too Seriously

Compared to other examples of human behavior, humor responses have received relatively little attention from the scientific community and by the behavior analytic community in particular. This study investigated what some of the controlling variables for humans to emit a humor response may be. Participants were randomly presented two types of word sequences/jokes: one with a matching punchline and one without a matching punchline. Participants rated whether the jokes were funny or not funny, and reaction time was measured for all stimuli presented. Generally, the results showed that reaction times to punchlines rated as not funny were shorter than punchlines that were rated funny. These differences in reaction time were interpreted with priming, intraverbal control, and multiple control as an experimental foundation. Limitations include the absence of physiological measures due to COVID-19 restrictions and the forced choice of two rating responses. The implications of this research reveal opportunities for future research of humor responses.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1873867
Date12 1900
CreatorsAmezquita IV, Edward Brandon
ContributorsOrtu, Daniele, Cihon, Traci, Dracobly, Joesph
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatv, 47 pages, Text
RightsPublic, Amezquita IV, Edward Brandon, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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