Art,Science,and Humor: The Study of Humorous Experience at the Intersection between Psychology and the Art World

Abstract

A theoretical model of humorous experience, organically interlinking different components (Bonaiuto & Giannini, 1987, 2003) is presented. In particular, we studied the world of illustrations, which are easy to manipulate through systematic collections and/or experimental modifications. Essential conditions found for humor consist of the perceptibility of illustrations' configurations based on “completion” skills favored by a beholder's dispositions. Moreover, necessary conditions include the presence of one or more paradoxes, i.e., contradiction of expectations (motivations, habits, and mental schemata), and other conflicts, with ambivalence between conflict repulsion vs. conflict attraction and protection. From these conflicts, the dynamics move toward humor only if there are conditions for a feeling of superiority and relative emotional detachment. The technical contrivances used by visual artists to guarantee these ingredients in the average beholder are listed. Summarized are phenomenological analyses and experimental investigations that show the role of rounded and stylized vs. angulated detailed shapes, and playful-reassuring vs. alarming-serious colors, in facilitating humor through the avoidance of conflict overloading and excessive emotional involvement. The use of humor in scientific demonstrations is described with reference to studies on serial reproduction. Examples from art works of different periods show how the conditions for humor have been intuitively and effectively taken into account even by famous artists such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Picasso, Magritte, and by contemporary illustrators. Parodies of famous paintings and humorous illustrations on current visual art expectations of the ordinary beholder are included in the article. Also cited are cases of kitsch productions and the nature of humor in disciplines besides the visual arts, such as literature and the performing arts. The high frequency of humor elicited by art works is explained as a correlate of the higher levels of tolerance for conflict and incongruity characterizing artists' and their followers' personalities.

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