Violations that are regarded as a benign usually result in laughter and amusement. According to McGraw and Warren (1141), some factors can be used to predict whether something will be funny. Benign violations are those that do not threaten people’s beliefs and their worldview. Three situations have to be satisfied for something to be funny, and the first one is that the case has to be a violation, the situation has to be benign, and finally, the two perceptions should occur at the same time. For example, tickling a friend at a bus station is a benign violation that will ultimately result in laughter as the act is physically threatening but also harmless while tickling a total stranger would be perceived as creepy and a threat.
The purpose of Warner’s article is to provide a summary of McGraw’s paper titled “Benign violations: Making immoral behavior funny.” Warner’s report on the Wired magazine is not a research paper at it does not adhere to any research format; the document provides an overview of the benign theory of humor and other approaches on the same topic (Warner).
According to McGraw’s theory, a violation can be defined as something that is perceived as a threat to a person’s belief about the world. Humorous violations satisfy the conditions of being seen as violations and being benign. McGraw also acknowledges that not all violations are funny as some fail to be perceived as benign which is necessary to create humor (McGraw and Warren 1142). A violation needs to be recognized as acceptable and safe for it to be funny. McGraw’s theory is valid and credible as it is also backed up by other researchers to aim at analyzing all humor theories.
Works Cited
Joel Warner WIRED. "One Professor's Attempt to Explain Every Joke Ever." WIRED, 26 Apr. 2011, www.wired.com/2011/04/ff-humorcode/.
McGraw, A. Peter, and Caleb Warren. "Benign violations: Making immoral behavior funny." Psychological science 21.8 (2010): 1141-1149.http://leeds-faculty.colorado.edu/mcgrawp/pdf/mcgraw.warren.inpress.pdf
