Understanding how laughter communicates helps to explain how individuals respond to laughter in intercultural situations. There are three manifestations of laughter: reflex responses to particular physical stimuli; automatic reactions to informative stimuli that can be intentionally controlled; and symbols encoded with semantic meanings…

Frame analysis of 85 cartoons from "The New Yorker" magazine was used to discover the significant keys, or metacommunicative characterizers, of cartoon humor. It was hypothesized that these keys/characterizers function to cue the readers so that they frame the message of the cartoon in a way that permits a humorous interpretation of the cartoon's…

A 16-page, four-color-on-newsprint magazine, "Krokodil" is among the world's most popular magazines of humor and satire. As a product of the Pravda Publishing House, it is produced by a branch of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, yet there are no official taboos or guidelines. Connections, popularity, and profits give…

This document reports on an empirical investigation of anti-women humor appearing in the Reader's Digest over three decades, revealing the operation of an unconscious sexist ideology. A systematic analysis was made of 1,069 jokes appearing in two featured columns of the Reader's Digest for the two-year periods 1947-48, 1957-58, and 1967-68.…

Freudian theory and subsequent research indicates a connection between sexual and aggressive motivation. The present study investigated preferences among nonsexual, sexual, and aggressive humor as a function of induced aggressive mood. One-hundred and twenty male and 120 female university students participated in one of four 2x2 factorial designs…

Humor has a place in counseling. The paper touches on some of the more prominent theoretical explanations of humor, presents assumptions that seem pertinent to any rationale for using humor in counseling, points out the reasons counselors may have overlooked its value, and considers the uses and abuses of humor. (Author)

The article discusses the use and purposes of puns in Spanish speech and literature. (Text is in Spanish.) (NCR)

Subjects in three age groups (N=96) who resided at home were tested on appreciation and comprehension of 12 conservation and 12 nonconservation jokes. Cognitive perceptual theory of humor applies in old age as in childhood, with appreciation depending on a match between ability level and cognitive demand of the joke. (Author)

Examined the relationship of ability to conserve and comprehend of logical riddles in 33 first-, third- and fifth-grade boys of average intelligence. Although both riddle comprehension and cognitive maturity as assessed by Piagetian tasks increased with grade, the relation between them was not clearly demonstrated. (Author/JMB)

Presents a list of the 25 most popular reading choices of Iowa high school students. Provides brief summaries and publication information on books in the following categories: autobiography and personal narrative; contemporary realism; historical fiction and nonfiction; humor and satire; sports; and mystery, adventure, and the supernatural. (MM)

Reports on the 1987 Drexel University/Free Library of Philadelphia Conference on Children's Literature. The edited text of the keynote address by Alvin Schwartz, "Children, Humor and Folklore," and the acceptance speech by Deborah Kogan Ray, recipient of the 1987 Drexel Citation, are included. Observations on humor from workshop sessions are…

Indicates that premenstrual and menstrual women preferred comedy over alternative choices more strongly than did women midway through the cycle. Suggests that this preference reflects a desire to overcome the hormonally mediated noxious mood states that are characteristically associated with the premenstrual and menstrual phases of the cycle. (JD)

Parodies psychology articles diagnosing syndromes and suggesting treatments. Identifies clinical features of childhood and "causes of childhood." (ABB)

A sample of 280 undergraduate students were selected for a study to determine the effect of tendentious and nontendentious humor in college first lecture presentations on students' perceptions of classroom communicative climate. Findings are discussed. (MT)

Suggests humorous ways to generate student interest in literature such as creating advertising campaigns for characters in fiction. (SRT)