Humor appreciation is a psychological response that occurs when a situation or a stimulus is perceived to be humorous. The authors review different conditions that scholars have proposed lead to humor appreciation, including surprise, simultaneity, violations, and a benign appraisal. Although...

Psychological distance, or the extent to which something seems far away spatially, temporally, socially, or hypothetically, often influences humor perception. The benign violation theory of humor explains why psychological distance has a different effect on tragedies than minor mishaps. Distance...

The benign violation theory argues that humor perception results from a violation appraisal, a benign appraisal, and both appraisals occurring simultaneously. The benign violation theory offers a plausible explanation for why seeming diverse stimuli, including puns, sarcasm, jokes, tickling, and...

Humor is an important, ubiquitous phenomenon; however, seemingly disparate conditions seem to facilitate humor. We integrate these conditions by suggesting that laughter and amusement result from violations that are simultaneously seen as benign. We investigated three conditions that make a...