Mobilization of inhibitions and the enjoyment of aggressive humor.

The article focuses on mobilization of inhibitions and the enjoyment of aggressive humor. Internalized prohibitions against the free expression of certain needs, motives, and impulses have long been assigned a central role in the dynamics of humor by psychoanalytic theorists. In the study reported here, some notions about the role of such inhibitions in the appreciation of aggressive humor were subjected to experimental investigation. According to sociologist S. Freud, aggressive humor can be regarded as one form of tendentious humor that is jokes, which serve some sexual or aggressive purpose. While in all forms of humor some of the pleasure is derived from the mental processes involved in tendentious humor the expression and partial gratification of impulses which are barred from more direct expression provide a supplementary source of pleasure. Freud proposed that aggressive or hostile humor is a veiled form of attack, which satisfies an aggressive motive of its author. Cartoons, jokes, and anecdotes, which derogate an object or emphasize themes of its destruction or suffering all fall under this rubric.