Reflection: What You Laugh At

Prompts to consider

• The benign violation theory says you need to feel both that something is wrong AND that it's okay, simultaneously. Think of something you find funny that surprises you slightly, something you feel a little guilty laughing at. What is the violation? What makes it feel benign enough for you to laugh? What does your laughter reveal about your relationship to the norm being violated?
• Think about what you don't find funny, categories of humor that leave you cold or make you uncomfortable. Is it because the violation is too real (not benign enough)? Because the violation doesn't register (you don't share the norm)? Or because the humor is punching down in a way you find morally distasteful? Being precise about *why* something isn't funny to you tells you something about your values.
• Shared laughter is a form of coordinated social cognition, when a room laughs together, they're affirming shared perception of the world. Think of a time you laughed with someone and felt genuinely bonded by it. What was the shared world that the joke required? And have you ever felt excluded by a joke, realized you didn't share the background that everyone else did? What was that like?