A universal theory of humour

[podcast]http://www.edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/A Universal Theory of Humour.mp3[/podcast]

I am a very funny man. I have been told so, so it must be true. You can tell how funny I am by reading my very funny writing. Like this paragraph. This paragraph is very funny. It must be because I am a very funny man. I have been told so, so it must be true.

Why we find things funny has long been a matter of contention in the scientific world, probably because humor itself is so subjective. I think the preceding paragraph is funny. You might disagree. But now I can trump your disagreement with science: that paragraph is funny because it’s based on the surprise repetition of patterns.

Until recently, theories of humour have focused on what is technically known as “getting the joke.” Rather than looking at why people find things funny, they’ve looked at what people find funny.

But last year Alastair Clarke, a British evolutionary theorist (who, judging by his online photo, is a very serious man indeed) published the first universal theory of humour: the Pattern Recognition Theory.

According to Clarke, who is nothing if not confident, his theory “changes thousands of years of incorrect analyses and mini-theories that have applied to only a small proportion of instances of humour,” offering “a vital answer as to why humour exists in every human society.”

Clarke believes that humour occurs when the brain is surprised by the recognition of a pattern, and that the humourous response is a reward that encourages more pattern recognition in the future.

That award response has evolved, Clarke says, because “an ability to recognize patterns instantly and unconsciously” has been important to our species’ survival, helping us to quickly understand our environment and function effectively within it. He points out that language, which is unique to humans, is based on patterns.

Pattern recognition kicks in early, Clarke says, noting that children as young as four months old laugh at Peek-A-Boo. Peek-A-Boo involves surprise repetition: a clear, simple pattern that changes unexpectedly.

Many years later you may find that infant laughing at a stand-up comic…or the cast of Corner Gas, the hit Canadian TV comedy that wrapped up this week. Clarke refers to the “It’s so true” form of humor, in which audience members recognize the similarities between a situation and something they have their own mental image of, but are surprised to hear it described or see it acted out.

Clarke is continuing to explore and expand his theory. Just last month, he set out what he believes are the eight patterns that are the cause of all humor “that has ever been imagined or expressed, regardless of civilization, culture or personal taste” as a press release put it (in fairly grandiose terms).

The eight patterns break down into four “patterns of fidelity,” involving the recognition of units within the same context, and four “patterns of magnitude,” involving recognition of the same unit repeated in multiple contexts.

One pattern, and probably the most basic, is positive repetition: the “unit” (whatever pattern is being recognized, an image, an action, an object, a phrase, etc.) is repeated in a similar form with the same purpose. (Rodney Dangerfield’s “I don’t get no respect!”)

Another common pattern is scale: repeating the unit in an exaggerated format. (Throw one turkey out of a helicopter and you’ve got animal abuse. Thrown a dozen out while the news anchor shouts, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!” and you’ve got a classic comedy bit.)

For the benefit of those wishing to base their future joke-telling on sound scientific principles, the remaining patterns are division, completion, translation, applicative and qualitative recontextualization, and opposition.

Clarke says all human humour involves at least one of the eight forms of pattern recognition, and may involve multiple examples.

That being the case, can we use this universal theory to say, once and for all, whether or not I am funny?

Alas, no. “Pattern recognition remains a subjective matter, just like any other perception,” says Clarke.

In other words, what you find funny still won’t necessarily be what I find funny.

So you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you, I’m a very funny man.

Would I lie to you?[podcast]http://www.edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/A Universal Theory of Humour.mp3[/podcast]