Wit and humor--Psychology

This essay develops a conceptual framework accounting for the
potential of humor to enhance social cohesion. A typology of
humor is advanced and the constructed types are successively
related to the respective types of solidarity deriving from the
incidence of humor and the cognitive mechanisms responsible for
the emergent fellow-feeling . Beyond explicating the confederating
influence of humor. this essay explores the effects of three
structural attributes of joking relations upon the nature of
the emergent solidarity; these are, the social status of the wit,
the nature of the vocalized humor, and, the orientation of the
auditors towards their group. The influence of these structural
variables upon the cohering potential of humor is considered.
In the process of formulating a conceptual scheme explicating
the confederating impact of humor as well as assessing the
influence of extraneous elements upon this potential the
findings of previous humor research are appraised in the light
of the advanced argument.