The Science of Jokes

Waldo Tunnel

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Dec 8, 2012, 4:44:16 PM12/8/12

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Review: INSIDE JOKES: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1171575.ece

Witziges Rätsel

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Dec 10, 2012, 4:13:55 PM12/10/12

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On 12/8/2012 4:44 PM, Waldo Tunnel wrote:
>
> Review: INSIDE JOKES: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind
> http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1171575.ece
>

Were the authors ever tickled unmercifully?

Waldo Tunnel

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Dec 13, 2012, 1:37:58 AM12/13/12

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Isn't that more like torture?

M Purcell

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Jan 19, 2013, 4:42:59 PM1/19/13

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On Dec 8 2012, 1:44 pm, Waldo Tunnel <waldotun...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Review: INSIDE JOKES: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind
>
> http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1171575.ece

Interesting. But humor can also be used to effect the mind, look at
all the humorous TV advertisements.

Smiler

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Jan 19, 2013, 6:41:23 PM1/19/13

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The the effect of humour in advertisements is to make them more memorable.
It's harder to ignore a joke/humour than a plain advertisement.

--
Smiler,
The godless one. a.a.# 2279
All gods are tailored to order. They're made to
exactly fit the prejudices of their believers.

Christopher A. Lee

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Jan 19, 2013, 9:02:44 PM1/19/13

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On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 23:41:23 +0000, Smiler <Youm...@JoeKing.com>
wrote:

>On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:42:59 -0800, M Purcell wrote:
>
>> On Dec 8 2012, 1:44 pm, Waldo Tunnel <waldotun...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Review: INSIDE JOKES: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind
>>>
>>> http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1171575.ece
>>
>> Interesting. But humor can also be used to effect the mind, look at all
>> the humorous TV advertisements.
>
>The the effect of humour in advertisements is to make them more memorable.
>It's harder to ignore a joke/humour than a plain advertisement.

There is a long history of remembering the joke not the product - like
the cigar you were meant to smoke after something went wrong - and the
commercial showed Paul Darrow (Avon from Blake's Seven) as Columbus
just approaching the end of the world, realising it was flat after all
and he was just about to be carried over the edge so he lit one up.

Everybody my age remembers the commercial but not which cigar.

Similarly Caroline Munro as a dusky maiden on a raft floating down a
river in South America showing a tobacco leaf next to her assets while
the camera zoomed in - and again body remembers which tobacco brand.

And Shakira Bakash (later Mrs. Michael Caine) doing the same thing
with coffee beans. Nobody remembers the brand.

M Purcell

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Jan 20, 2013, 12:21:16 AM1/20/13

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On Jan 19, 3:41 pm, Smiler <Youmus...@JoeKing.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:42:59 -0800, M Purcell wrote:
> > On Dec 8 2012, 1:44 pm, Waldo Tunnel <waldotun...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Review: INSIDE JOKES: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind
>
> >>http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1171575.ece
>
> > Interesting. But humor can also be used to effect the mind, look at all
> > the humorous TV advertisements.
>
> The the effect of humour in advertisements is to make them more memorable.
> It's harder to ignore a joke/humour than a plain advertisement.

Another effect of humour is to make a person feel good and it's easier
to convince someone that's enjoying thierself.

Smiler

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Jan 20, 2013, 6:54:08 PM1/20/13

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On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 18:02:44 -0800, Christopher A. Lee wrote:

> On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 23:41:23 +0000, Smiler <Youm...@JoeKing.com> wrote:
>
>>On Sat, 19 Jan 2013 13:42:59 -0800, M Purcell wrote:
>>
>>> On Dec 8 2012, 1:44 pm, Waldo Tunnel <waldotun...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Review: INSIDE JOKES: Using humor to reverse-engineer the mind
>>>>
>>>> http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1171575.ece
>>>
>>> Interesting. But humor can also be used to effect the mind, look at all
>>> the humorous TV advertisements.
>>
>>The the effect of humour in advertisements is to make them more
>>memorable. It's harder to ignore a joke/humour than a plain
>>advertisement.
>
> There is a long history of remembering the joke not the product - like the
> cigar you were meant to smoke after something went wrong - and the
> commercial showed Paul Darrow (Avon from Blake's Seven) as Columbus just
> approaching the end of the world, realising it was flat after all and he
> was just about to be carried over the edge so he lit one up.
>
> Everybody my age remembers the commercial but not which cigar.

Hamlet cigars. <Music: Air on a G string>

There was a whole series of those ads, one being a French aristocrat
awaiting his turn at the guillotine. When a rescue attempt goes wrong, he
lights up a Hamlet.

>
> Similarly Caroline Munro as a dusky maiden on a raft floating down a river
> in South America showing a tobacco leaf next to her assets while the
> camera zoomed in - and again body remembers which tobacco brand.

I don't even remember the ad.

>
> And Shakira Bakash (later Mrs. Michael Caine) doing the same thing with
> coffee beans. Nobody remembers the brand.

Nor that one.