Motivation and emotion/Book/2021/Amusement

Amusement:
What is amusement, what causes it, what are its consequences, and how can it be fostered?

Overview

"Live, Laugh, Love" - middle aged person

Amusement is the positive emotional state that arises when somebody experiences humour or entertainment. It is associated with feelings of excitement, happiness and pleasure, and can lead to expressions such as smiling and laughing. Amusement can provide positive mental, physical, and social benefits. It can also lead to negative consequences when it is attained at the expense of others, or is sought excessively. This chapter explores amusement and examines whether fostering it is worth the consequences.

Focus questions:

What is amusement?
What causes amusement?
What are the consequences of amusement?
How can amusement be fostered?

What is amusement?

Playing games, hearing jokes, going on amusement park rides, and watching films are some common activities that people can experience to feel amusement. Shiota, Keltner and John (2007) show that amusement is experienced from activities such as these because they create a cognitive shift in knowledge structures. When anticipating a target knowledge structure, it is the pleasant surprise in receiving new knowledge that leads to the feeling of amusement. Roberts (1988) explores this further by showing that amusement is a result of a person’s preconceived beliefs interacting incongruently with the environment. This theory of amusement is actually in line with incongruity theory which explains humour. Scientific research focuses more on humour as amusement, as humour is a major factor of causing amusement (Warren, Barsky and Mcgraw, 2020). What is not defined in research is that if the mismatch in knowledge is unpleasant, it may not lead to feelings of humour. From this chapter’s definition of amusement, incongruence can also lead to negative emotions that are more likely to be fear or sadness, and not amusement. Therefore, it is important to establish that amusement can only be considered as the emotional state that arises when an individual receives any new information that elicits pleasant feelings. Humour is one of the major causes of amusement and will be focused on throughout this chapter.

Figure 1. An example of a meme that creates incongruence and provides amusement. It suggests the cat is expressing itself as a human would, and this is unexpected behaviour for a cat.

For example, viewing a meme is a classic experience that causes amusement because memes create cognitive shifts in knowledge structures. The classic What’s 9 + 10 meme received many millions of streams and reposts across the internet. Some even consider it a defining piece of internet culture from the last decade. The reason it was so well received is because it’s amusing, and people desire amusement because of the pleasant feelings it provides. This meme can be considered amusing mainly for two reasons. People’s preconceived beliefs of basic math, and especially the ability to solve it by a self-proclaimed “not stupid” person. When the simple math question is answered incorrectly, the incongruence elicits a surprise which is easily interpreted as humorous and therefore amusing. The other reason may be due to an experience known as schadenfreude which is under superiority theory. It is basically feelings of pleasure that arise from seeing another person experience negative events or emotions. In this example, the child who answers the math question incorrectly is ridiculed when he is called "stupid" which can provide humour and create the interpretation that he is more inferior.

Causes of amusement

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Amusement theories

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Superiority theory

Superiority theory, which includes schadenfreude, is a theory that explains humour and amusement that results from the misfortunes of others. It is one of the first theories of humour and amusement that has been expanded on by Plato, Aristotle and Hobbes. As the name suggests, when a person perceives themselves as more superior to another, this creates pleasure in the form of amusement (Lintott, 2016). The theory claims that competition is the basis of humour. The surprise realisation that somebody is inferior acts as the new information that contradicts previous beliefs of inadequacy. This stimulates pleasurable feelings in the form of amusement.

Relief theory

Relief theory is a theory that explains humour and amusement as a release of tension according to Wilkins and Eisenbraun (2009). When a situation has tension, and humour is suddenly introduced, this humour and the act of laughing or smiling releases the tension which leads to pleasurable feelings of amusement. This is because a person believes that a tense situation will have a negative outcome. The surprise of new information in the form of positive, humorous knowledge causes amusement. Furthermore, the physical act of laughing or smiling combines with the feelings of humour to add further feelings of relief and stress reduction.

Incongruity theory

Incongruity theory explains that humour and amusement results when people experience unexpected outcomes to situations. When a person’s beliefs lead to expectations that are not met, this incongruence creates amusement. Similarly to relief theory, it’s the surprise element in realising that the expectations do not match the outcomes of real life that cause humour (Wilkins and Eisenbraun, 2009). The cognitive shift also causes people to laugh or smile which reinforces humour and creates further pleasant feelings (Herring et al., 2011).

Benign violations theory

Figure 2. An example of teasing that elicits humour. The author of this chapter showing delicious treats that makes the reader hungry. Their displeasure at not being able to enjoy one of the treats provides humour to the author.

Benign violations theory (BVT) is a more recent theory of humour and amusement that encompasses all three previous theories of humour. BVT attempts to explain humour as the result of three main factors (Avdagić, 2020). Firstly, there has to be a disruption of the way a person believes the world is, which is the aspect of incongruence. Secondly, this incongruence has to occur during an experience that is interpreted as safe. Thirdly, a person has to experience the previous two points at the same time. Essentially, this means that a person must experience incongruence in a way that feels positive. For example, teasing between friends leads to humour according to BVT. If the jokes being made about each other are light hearted, it is funny. If the jokes are interpreted as disrespectful, then it is not considered safe and humour does not arise. Hemenover and Shimmack (2007) have expanded upon this concept by showing that negative emotions, such as disgust, can still be perceived and trigger amusement in an individual, as long as the disgust does not target them directly. This relates to superiority theory and highlights that a person will be too focused on the consequences of directly experiencing negative emotions to experience amusement.

Humour

When somebody experiences humour, there is a direct correlation with experiencing amusement. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology (2020), humour can be defined as “the capacity to perceive or express the amusing aspects of a situation”. The actual experience of perceiving something as funny may be the same to all or most people. Experiencing humour and amusement causes people to express it physiologically in a handful of ways, particularly by laughing and smiling. These responses can have effects such as decreasing stress hormones, and triggering a release of endorphins. These are just some of the effects, and more can be found in detail within the consequences section of this chapter.

The actual cause of humour is subjective and unique to individuals. The sociological and developmental factors each person has experienced shape what they find funny. There are four commonly received types of humour in psychological research that can attempt to explain differences in people’s sense of humour and therefore what causes them amusement. These have been highlighted by Kazarian and Martin (2004) below.

Affiliative humour - This type of humour is more accepting and aims to connect people. It may involve jokes about everyday occurrences that most people can relate to in order to make them feel better.

Aggressive humour – This type of humour involves putting other people down. It may include “roast” jokes that inflict psychological harm on others. Typically this type of humour is only amusing to those not on the receiving end, as it can be considered bullying.

Self-enhancing humour – This type of humour involves making jokes about the self in a positive fashion. It may include jokes about the self that attempt to make the person feel better about making a mistake.

Self-defeating humour – This type of humour is similar to self-enhancing humour, however, it involves putting oneself down. This type of humour may involve somebody making fun of themselves in a negative fashion, often to prevent others from being able harm the person with the same insults.

All of these types of humour have the ability to create amusement for people. Understanding these types can lead to an understanding of how different people can maximise feelings of amusement to experience its benefits. It also highlights that there can be costs to others. The negative and aggressive styles of humour can amuse some, and leave others psychologically harmed.

Entertainment

With countless forms, entertainment has the ability to capture the attention of large audiences, providing them with pleasure and amusement. Entertainment is a vastly broad concept which involves satisfying people’s curiosity and creating interest. Like humour, entertainment is subjective because a person’s preconceived beliefs determine what they find interesting. Because some forms of entertainment (movies, plays etc.) illicit negative emotions, such as sadness, it contradicts this chapter's definition of amusement which involves requiring pleasant emotions. There are, however, a variety of commonly accepted forms of entertainment that appeal to a large variety of people and can also illicit the positive sensations of amusement. These include expressions of art such as music, dance, film, books, comedy and sport. It can range from an individual listening to a song alone at home, to a music festival known as Donauinselfest that entertained over 3 million people over its duration. Humour is a common aspect of entertainment.

Figure 3. A large crowd gathers to experience amusement from the live entertainment of a DJ show.

Entertainment has been described simply as a source of gratification that satisfies evolutionary neural structures (Bartsch and Viehoff, 2010). In moderate doses, entertainment provides amusement that can have beneficial impacts on people’s lives. This is particularly true with entertainment such as playing sports. Partaking in sports provides exercise which has a multitude of mental and physical benefits. It also provides amusement, which provides its own further benefits. Shiota et al. (2014) have shown that play causes amusement in mammals, and it provides individuals with the ability to learn in a complex environment that doesn't pose the risk of serious consequences. Chasing amusement too often, or in large doses can be harmful if it leads to addiction. Digital media addiction can provide an example of this. When people seek the instant gratification of pleasurable dopamine that arises through consuming digital media, it can cause them to neglect other more important aspects of their lives. People can still experience amusement and its benefits from digital media, however, like humour, it may come at a cost.

Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude is an experience of pleasure or amusement that arises from another person’s misfortune or misery (Brubaker, Montez and Church, 2021). It can fall under the humour types of aggressive and self-defeating humour, as well as superiority theory. It often results when an individual perceives themselves as unequal in a lesser way to others. When somebody perceived as more successful fails, it creates security for the perceiver as they believe their internal standing is improved.

Brubaker, Montez and Church's (2021) study found that schadenfreude was a major contributing motivator for the internet phenomenon known as 'trolling'. Users of the website Reddit intentionally and maliciously trap other users into negative, time-consuming conversations with the goal being to irritate these other users. What was more interesting is that the 'trolls' did not see their behaviour as dysfunctional or undesirable in the context of online communication. People who are motivated by schadenfreude receive the benefits of humour and amusement, but only when it causes negative emotions to others.

Consequences of amusement

Figure 4. Laughter is a direct expression of amusement that transcends language and culture. The exhale that occurs through laughing relaxes the muscles which adds to sensations of enjoyment and pleasure.

Laughter is an emotional expression that often results from experiencing amusement. It acts as a universal language as it is commonly recognised across cultures as a sign of joy that arises from humour and amusement. Amusement can have negative consequences when it comes at the cost of inflicting negative emotions on others. The actual experience of personally feeling amusement, however, is a positive one. Laughter may stem from a smile that converts into vocal outbursts as the amount of amusement experienced increases (Keltner, 1995). Laughter can also be associated with negative emotions such as embarrassment. There are some physical distinctions that accompany laughter to determine that it is a result of being amused. One of these major distinctions is that genuine laughter from amusement involves a relaxation of the jaw (Keltner, 1995). This may be accompanied by a tightening of the eyes and throwing back of the head.

Laughter has a multitude of physical, mental and social benefits. It has even been used as a source of therapy in order to reduce stress in people’s lives. Yim (2016) has shown that laughter has been used to successfully alleviate the symptoms of a depressed mood for those suffering from clinical depression. This is because it reduces serum levels of cortisol, epinephrine, growth hormone, and 3,4-dihydrophenylacetic acid (a major dopamine catabolite). This helps to reverse problems within mood control neural circuits that depression sufferers have. Table 1 highlights the benefits of laughter from amusement in Mora-Ripoll's (2010) work.

*Table 1.* Physical, Mental and Social Benefits of Laughter
Physical benefits	Mental benefits	Social benefits
Relaxes muscles	Reduces anxiety and stress	Resolves conflicts
Decreases pain	Improves mood	Increases attraction
Boosts immunity	Increases resilience	Improves teamwork
Prevents heart disease	Increases focus	Strengthens relationships

How amusement can be fostered

Emotion regulation refers to a person’s ability to control their own emotional state. Samson and Gross (2010) indicate that it can involve changing belief processes in order to react differently to certain situations. It can also involve choosing to experience situations that trigger certain emotional responses, which is important to fostering amusement. This chapter has analysed that a person’s beliefs are important for determining incongruence and feelings of safety that are important for experiencing amusement. A person is able to change their beliefs about the way they see the world, which could allow them to develop a broader sense of humour. For example, a person suffering from depression or anxiety may go into situations with a negative mindset. This causes them to interpret the potential incongruences of the experience as unsafe. Another person may tell a seemingly harmless joke, and the person suffering from depression can interpret it negatively and not be humoured or amused. If the person suffering from depression changes their negative mindset to a positive one, perhaps through Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, they can experience the incongruence from the joke as safe and amusing.

This has been proven by Braniecka et al. (2019) whose study concluded that emotionally regulating humour had as strong of an effect as positive reappraisal on relieving sufferers of depression. Furthermore, in the sufferers' attempts to utilise humour in different experiences, even if they failed at finding humour, this failure did not have any negative outcomes on their emotional state. A person may be unable to, or not want to change their views to regulate amusement. In that case, they can still foster amusement by placing themselves in situations that cause amusement. For example, the same depressed or anxious person may be in the beginning stages of CBT without any major changes yet. If they get joy out of a form of entertainment such as comedy, they can attend or stream a comedy show to receive the benefits of amusement.

Conclusion

This chapter defined amusement as the emotional state that arises when an individual receives any new information that elicits pleasant feelings. Amusement has the potential to grant benefits that range from stress reduction, to strengthening relationships, and even to boosting a person's immune system. It can also cause harm when its benefits are sought at the expense of others, as can be explained by superiority theory, schadenfreude, and addictions. It is therefore important to develop a positive sense of humour, which can be done by embracing a more carefree attitude. Emotion regulation can effectively be conducted to help treat mental illnesses by changing thought processes, especially with the help of a professional. Specific entertainment activities that provide amusement should also be sought after for the benefits that it can provide, especially the way it brings like minded people together in a healthy way. All people understand laughter. It is important to remember that the most wasted days are the ones without it.

References

American Psychological Association. (2020). APA dictionary of psychology: humor. https://dictionary.apa.org/humor

Avdagić, K. (2020). Black humour processing in the light of the conceptual integration theory and the benign violation theory. Explorations in English Language and Linguistics, Vol.7 (1), p.70-93. https://doi.org/10.2478/exell-2020-0007

Bartsch, A., & Viehoff, R. (2010). The use of media entertainment and emotional gratification. Procedia, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol.5, p.2247-2255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.07.444

Braniecka, A., Hanć, M., Wołkowicz, I., Chrzczonowicz‐Stępień, A., Mikołajonek, A., & Lipiec, M. Is it worth turning a trigger into a joke? Humor as an emotion regulation strategy in remitted depression. Brain and Behavior, Vol.9 (2), p.e01213. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1213

Brubaker, P., Montez, D., & Church, S. (2021). The Power of schadenfreude: Predicting behaviors and perceptions of trolling among reddit users. Social Media + Society, Vol.7 (2), p.205. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211021382

Giuliani, N., McRae, K., Gross, J., & Phelps, E. (2008). The up- and down-regulation of amusement: Experiential, behavioral, and autonomic consequences. Emotion, Vol.8 (5), p.714-719. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013236

Hemenover, S., & Schimmack, U. (2007). That's disgusting! …, but very amusing: Mixed feelings of amusement and disgust. Cognition and emotion, Vol.21 (5), p.1102-1113. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930601057037

Herring, D., Burleson, M., Roberts, N., & Devine, M. (2011). Coherent with laughter: Subjective experience, behavior, and physiological responses during amusement and joy. International journal of psychophysiology, Vol.79 (2), p.211-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.10.007

Kazarian, S., & Martin, R. (2004). Humour styles, personality, and well‐being among Lebanese university students. European Journal of Personality, Vol.18 (3), p.209-219. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.505

Keltner, D. (1995). Signs of appeasement: Evidence for the distinct displays of embarrassment, amusement, and shame. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.68 (3), p.441-454. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.68.3.441

Lintott, S. (2016). Superiority in humor theory. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol.74 (4), p.347-358. https://doi.org/10.1111/jaac.12321

Mora-Ripoll, R. (2010). The therapeutic value of laughter in medicine. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Vol.16 (6), p.56-64. PMID: 21280463

Roberts, R. (1988). Is amusement an emotion? American philosophical quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 269-274. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20014247

Shiota, M., Keltner, D., & John, O. (2007). Positive emotion dispositions differentially associated with Big Five personality and attachment style. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2006-04-01, Vol.1 (2), p.61-71. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868320961909

Shiota, M., Neufeld, S., Danvers, A., Osborne, E., Sng, O., & Yee, C. (2014). Positive emotion differentiation: a functional approach: Positive emotion differentiation. Social and personality psychology compass, Vol.8 (3), p.104-117. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12092

Warren, C., Barsky, A., & McGraw, P. (2020). What makes things funny? An integrative review of the antecedents of laughter and amusement. Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol.25 (1), p.41-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868320961909

Wilkins, J., & Eisenbraun, A. (2009). Humor theories and the physiological benefits of laughter. Holistic Nursing Practice, Volume 23, Issue 6, p 349-354. https://doi.org/10.1097/HNP.0b013e3181bf37ad

Yim, J. (2016). Therapeutic benefits of laughter in mental health: A theoretical review. The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol.239(3), pp.243-249. https://doi.org/10.1620/tjem.239.243

External links

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Play is more than just fun (TED)
Thrill seekers: Why do we love rollercoasters? (BBC Science Focus)
How to develop your sense of humor (G/O Media)
Why is entertainment so entertaining? (Psychology Today)
Laughter is the best medicine (HelpGuide.org)