Absurdist humor constitutes a meaning threat worthy of psychological study.
Evidence
It is difficult to imagine that anyone tuning in to a program called Monty Python’s Flying Circus could have no idea what they were in for. Nevertheless, an article in Britain’s Sunday Telegraph (Hastings, 2006) revealed that the program was nearly canceled at the height of its popularity as a BBC executive on the program review board found it “disgusting” and “sadistic” (p. 11). In the 40 years since it first aired in 1969, Monty Python’s Flying Circus has generated strong responses from viewers who found it hilarious or disturbing (or both). In Study 2, we used the potential meaning threat embedded in absurdist humor, which revels in nonsequiturs, random juxtapositions, iconoclasm, and the grotesque. — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 42
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the Complaints About Immodesty article theme of moral-panic reactions to cultural products; the BBC executive’s ‘disgusting and sadistic’ verdict on Monty Python resembles older panics over dress and satire. — connects to: Absurdist meaning threat should trigger defensive ingroup affirmation like other threats — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 30; Absurdist art may arouse uncanny feelings and provoke defensive affirmation — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 10; Meaningless absurdist content triggers compensatory affirmation just like intergroup threat — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 47 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Meaningless absurdist content triggers compensatory affirmation just like intergroup threat
#corroborates(0.95) — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 47 - Reading absurdist literature amplifies affirmation of one’s cultural identity.
#corroborates(0.92) — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 38 - Absurdist art may arouse uncanny feelings and provoke defensive affirmation
#corroborates(0.85) — Travis Proulx, Steven J. Heine, and Kathleen D. Vohs, When Is the Unfamiliar the Uncanny?…, 10 - Critical theory reads ironic humor as pseudo-rebellion that masks conventionality.
#complicates(0.72) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 665