The humor effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember information better when they perceive it as humorous. The humor effect can be highly beneficial, and humor in general offers a wide range of benefits, such as increased interest and increased energy levels. As such, in the following article you will learn more about the humor effect and about the benefits of humor, and see how you can use humor as effectively as possible.
This benefit, which is referred to as the humor effect , extends to different types of memory , such as recognition memory , which involves the ability to recognize things that one has encountered, and recall memory , which involves the ability to retrieve past information.
The humor effect can be attributed to improved encoding and retrieval of humorous information compared to—and often at the expense of—non-humorous information, as a result of factors such as increased attention and increased rehearsal.
Furthermore, other studies on the topic suggest that humor and laughter have additional social , mental , and physical benefits, in a wide variety of domains. Overall, the humor effect represents a notable benefit of humor, where humorous information is remembered better than non-humorous information.
In addition, humor offers a variety of other benefits, such as increased interest, increased energy levels, and reduced negative emotions.
First, some studies have criticized past research on the topic, thus casting doubts on the validity of some of the benefits of humor. For example, when it comes to the benefits of humor with regard to memory, some studies have suggested that increased rehearsal plays a role , while other studies have rejected this claim. From a practical perspective, the underlying mechanisms behind the benefits of humor can be important to understand in some cases, such as when you want to understand how exactly to use humor more effectively.
However, there are also many situations where what matters are the benefits of humor in practice , regardless of the exact mechanisms that are responsible for them. In this case, the reader understands the real situation and is amused when the writer exaggerates it. Steve Martin uses overstatement in this passage about dieting from his book Cruel Shoes :.
When a writer uses a serious tone to discuss a ridiculous subject, that type of humor is satire. This technique is popular with everyone from Shakespeare to Douglas Adams. In this essay, Swift pretends to propose that people should eat children to take care of the hunger problem and overpopulation at the same time:.
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.
If you enjoy using humor in your writing or identifying it in books you read, you might get a laugh out of some different examples of humor or silly book puns.
All rights reserved. Woman laughing while reading funny literature. Surprise and Incongruity One type of humor used in literature is incongruity or surprise. Self-Deprecating Humor Self-deprecating humor is when the speaker or a character makes fun of himself or herself.
Irony as Humor Many literary texts use irony in a humorous way. The project would lose you. Humor keeps you engaged. In I Am Legend , there are spatters of humorous moments both in the book and film versions-it was adapted into a film three times.
People joke all the time, even in the most serious situations. When my father died, my younger sister and I found some alone time with each other unbearable. I broke the tension by reminding her of something funny our dad used to do; she countered with another thing.
Soon we were reminiscing and laughing about his quirks and funny incidents involving him. If you want your characters to ring true-to-life, you need to splash some humor on them. Most people are not cardboard cutouts; they are multi-dimensional.
Humor is a quick, effective way to illustrate such. Humorous remarks or incidents tend to happen near the end of a chapter or long scene. What lines do you remember from books, stories, and movies? What lines do people quote over and over? Is it the long, drawn out serious ones or the short, funny, witty quips? Do these lines sound familiar?
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