Testing a Theory of Laughter (original) (raw)

This paper propbses and tests a theory of catharsis ,. of repressed emotion. The key concept in this theory is the balance of attention, a concept that is shown to be equivalent o aesthetic distance. Laughter and 9ither-emotional releases occur w en one's attention is equallydivided between a distressful past event and the safe present. In the audience for a drama, this situation occurs most frequently when th4 audience knows something that one or more'of the characters don't know. To test this theory, a tape was obtained of the audience response to a play (Twelfth Night). There were 281 instances of audience laughter. To predict .these instances, the script was independently coded for discrepant awareness. For example, the audience knows that the heroine, Viola, is disguised as a man. i * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS A not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reprad tions * * supplied by EDRS are-the best that can be made from the original.