Abstract
Humor cannot be understood outside of the larger context of play and playfulness. Just as there are endless disagreements about pinning down the essence of humor, there are endless debates about pinning down the essence of play. Ultimately, humor and playfulness may be best described as attitudes which are fundamental not only to understanding social relationships, but also, according to some, human civilization itself.
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Notes
- 1.
This is not only true of infant humor. It is also quite typical of adult humor—of the things that amuse us in everyday life. Even taking the written joke—often it is the social context of the joke that underpins and gives sense to its wittiness.
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Mireault, G.C., Reddy, V. (2016). Playfulness. In: Humor in Infants. SpringerBriefs in Psychology(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-38963-9_3
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