What makes people find something funny? What part of the brain is this and why does it happen?
In: Biology
The part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex, to oversimplify, handles things like conscious thought and social behavior.
In its simplest form, a joke is a misdirection. The setup of the joke gives your brain an image or an abstract situation, then it’s filtered through your memories to give you a feeling of understanding, then the punchline of the joke shows you that your understanding is wrong. We laugh to show the social connection of enjoying something together, and to let the brain process the misdirection.
Example: “An Irishman walks past a bar.”
The setup is “An Irishman,” and it makes you think of the Irish stereotype of alcoholism. The punchline is “walks past a bar,” which makes you face your own belief in stereotypes. If you laugh (and I’m sure you wouldn’t because the joke isn’t funny) then you are showing me that you get the joke and you want me to like you.
Bret Weinstein has an interesting take on humor here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrs8mmWPoK0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrs8mmWPoK0)
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