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Humor and Psychopathology

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Emotions in Personality and Psychopathology

Part of the book series: Emotions, Personality, and Psychotherapy ((CISJ))

Abstract

In a book focusing mostly on emotion-related problems and psychological disorders, a chapter on humor seems a singularly happy choice, but humor, like most emotion-related behaviors, is a complex affair. While the emotion of joy may be the fundamental emotion expressed by laughter, the emotions of anger, contempt, and fear may also be couched in laughter. Levine shows how humor and laughter can both cure and kill. He demonstrates that humor and psychopathology are generally antipodal and that psychiatric patients typically perform poorly on tests of humor appreciation. He shows how people’s failure to appreciate a joke or a cartoon can furnish leads as to the nature of their problems, whether they be minor or pathological. He presents evidence for a relationship between certain types of response to humor and specific psychological disorders. He also shows how people can use humor and laughter for amusement or aggression.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. West Haven Veterans Administration Hospital, West Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Jacob Levine

  2. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Jacob Levine

Authors
  1. Jacob Levine
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA

    Carroll E. Izard

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© 1979 Plenum Press, New York

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Levine, J. (1979). Humor and Psychopathology. In: Izard, C.E. (eds) Emotions in Personality and Psychopathology. Emotions, Personality, and Psychotherapy. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2892-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2892-6_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-2894-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2892-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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