Excerpted from Wikipedia on 30-Oct-2014
Sources:
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humor
Humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humors (Latin: humor, “body fluid”), controlled human health and emotion.
People of all ages and cultures respond to humor. Most people are able to experience humor—i.e., to be amused, to smile or laugh at something funny—and thus are considered to have a sense of humor. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humor would likely find the behaviour induced by humor to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context.
Theories
Although various classical theories of humor and laughter may be found, in contemporary academic literature, three theories of humor appear repeatedly: relief theory, superiority theory, and incongruity theory. Among current humor researchers, there is no consensus about which of these three theories of humor is most viable. Proponents of each one originally claimed their theory to be capable of explaining all cases of humor, however, they now acknowledge that although each theory generally covers its own area of focus, many instances of humor can be explained by more than one theory. Incongruity and superiority theories, for instance, seem to describe complementary mechanisms which together create humor.