Ｑ37.What is humor?

Ａ. Humor is an urge to accept a child's mistakes.<br>
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　　Humor is an emotion derived from interest. You may double over laughing or burst out laughing when you hear a funny joke. Some people may blush because of trying to hold back their laughter.<br>
　　A sense of humor is important in human life, but people strangely don't know this mechanism. What situations cause people to feel that something is funny? How can a person think of ideas for something funny that others will feel is funny too?<br>
　　To solve this problem we will first consider the reason why the emotion called humor developed in evolution. In other words, the reason that humor is a pleasant sensation.<br>
　　Pleasant sensations make people want to continue or re-experience that situation. However, what we know as humor is difficult to make on our own and mainly received from others. For example the audience watching comedy acts will laugh but not the comedians. It is difficult to make a situation we feel is funny on our own if we want to re-experience it.<br>
　　Let's examine the life of hunters and gatherers which is the foundation of emotion's development. Meaning how did people make humor in that period.<br>
　　This is understood if you think back to childhood, playing a prank or fooling around and you felt it was funny. Children love pranks and teasing. The phrase "Are you kidding?" shows us the deep connection between kids and jokes or pranks.<br>
　　The reason which children play pranks is that it is interesting, in other words, because this situation is a fun and pleasant sensation. Naturally, that children play pranks has some advantage in evolution.<br>
　　The first point of value of pranks in evolution is that children use it to measure the distance between themselves and others, in other words, in order to recognize the range of interpersonal behavior ─ what you may do, and what you shouldn't do. Therefore, adults play less pranks because they have already acknowledged this.<br>
　　The second point of value is to strengthen the relationship with others. A special feature of pranks is that it looks like an attack, but it actually cannot cause real damage. It is not a real attack, so after it occurs they negate this attack by showing the very defenseless state of laughter. They express that it was a trick through actions such as being doubled over with laughter, which are a dangerous position with zero defensive ability.<br>
　　Humans are inseparable from mistakes or misunderstandings. In such cases people would cause a little trouble to others. If you feel it a hostile act and get angry, the relationship will be easily broken. We can stabilize relationships through the shared experience of a trick as a false attack.<br>
　　The third point of value is to draw other's attention. It is something done when you want people to watch you, or pay attention to you. Therefore, it also occurs in times of romance or jealousy.<br>
　　 False attacks can also be called surprises. False attacks look like attacks at a glance, but only in form. When the defenders get into a defensive stance, then the attackers laugh as if to say, "this is not an attack".<br>
　　Some comedians are quick to strip down in public, because being naked is a false attack. The other people dislike it but there is no actual harm. On a nude beach it would not become a gag.<br>
　　Mimicry is also a false attack to the mimicked celebrity so it is funny. Wasn't there a classmate who was popular for mimicking the teacher when you were a child?<br>
　　Pranks like this ― tricks decreases as you age. This is because of guilt. If a child play a trick, they get scolded by adults. When the guilt exceeds the pleasure of playing tricks on others they will stop playing them.<br>
　　Guilt is significantly different due to the nation's culture. Some Japanese feel foreign comedy programs are boring, because the content sometimes matches what makes them feel guilty. When adults watch people waste food and fool around on a variety show, they think that it is an anti-educational program and dislike it. To waste food causes guilt.