Review of Humor: The psychology of living buoyantly.

Reviews the book, Humor: The psychology of living buoyantly by Herbert M. Lefcourt (see record 2000-14400-000). Lefcourt traces the changing concerns of psychology, and the reason why the psychological study of humour has often been trivialized as an unlikely candidate for research support in the past. The author charts his own personal odyssey in the field, one in which he is drawn to the study of human strengths rather than human frailties. An early chapter sets us up for the remaining chapters by reminding us how we experience humour in everyday life. Verbatim anecdotes from students in previous seminars offer vignettes which allow the reader to grasp the situation vicariously and to see how and why the humour of the situation could have arisen. It is here that Lefcourt confides that his is a functionalist psychological perspective, and that he views humour as a characteristic that has been useful to our species. Here one comes to the crux of the argument for most readers. Is humour, then, a coping strategy, ultimately devised in our evolutionary ramblings, as a protective cushion against the jagged impact of stressful experiences? The middle part of this book explores this hypothesis in a variety of experimental settings, all designed to assess the moderating role of humour in the face of stress. This is a useful, even uplifting, book about the human search for emotional well-being. Its academic value in outlining the history and current thrust of work in the field of humour is obvious, but this reviewer appreciated its bold attempt to provide a more personal view of human adaptation to life's stressful requirements. Very simply, this is a book that resonates with one's understanding of life beyond the research laboratory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Crosstalk between MicroRNA and Oxidative Stress in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays a key role in the pathogenesis of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), a chronic neurodegenerative disease that damages the trabecular meshwork (TM) cells, inducing apoptosis of the retinal ganglion cells (RGC), deteriorating the optic nerve head, and leading to blindness. Aqueous humor (AH) outflow resistance and intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation contribute to disease progression. Nevertheless, despite the existence of pharmacological and surgical treatments, there is room for the development of additional treatment approaches. The following review is aimed at investigating the role of different microRNAs (miRNAs) in the expression of genes and proteins involved in the regulation of inflammatory and degenerative processes, focusing on the delicate balance of synthesis and deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) regulated by chronic oxidative stress in POAG related tissues. The neutralizing activity of a couple of miRNAs was described, suggesting effective downregulation of pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic signaling pathways, including nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB), transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-β2), Wnt/β-Catenin, and PI3K/AKT. In addition, with regards to the elevated IOP in many POAG patients due to increased outflow resistance, Collagen type I degradation was stimulated by some miRNAs and prevented ECM deposition in TM cells. Mitochondrial dysfunction as a consequence of oxidative stress was suppressed following exposure to different miRNAs. In contrast, increased oxidative damage by inhibiting the mTOR signaling pathway was described as part of the action of selected miRNAs. Summarizing, specific miRNAs may be promising therapeutic targets for lowering or preventing oxidative stress injury in POAG patients.     

Documenting and explaining the common AAB pattern in music and humor: Establishing and breaking expectations.

The AAB pattern consists of two similar events followed by a third dissimilar event. The prevalence of this pattern in the aesthetic domain may be explained as violation of expectation: A minimum of two iterations is required to establish a repetitive pattern; once established, it is most efficient to promptly violate the expected continuance of the pattern to produce the maximal aesthetic effect. We demonstrate the prevalence of this pattern (in comparison to AB or AAAB) in a representative sample of a variety of musical genres and in a representative sample of repetitive genre of jokes. We also provide experimental evidence that the AAB pattern in jokes is maximally effective in producing a humor response in participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Freedom of Man in Myth.

Reviews the book, The Freedom of Man in Myth by Kees W. Bolle. Had myths never existed, man would be obliged to invent them. Far from being the product of "primitive" or "inferior" mentality, myths have appeared in all times and all places. They continue to be created and appreciated in contemporary society. Forever beset by the incongruities of the human situation and the necessity to face up to life's realities under the shadow of death, man spins out stories that will release him from his finitude. An important factor in myth is humor. Elaborating on four elements of humor originally propounded by Jean Paul and including the "dimming of opposites" and the use of the "grotesque," Dr. Bolle traces humor from the earliest oriental myths, to such writers as Shakespeare and Heine, and straight through to such modern authors as Gunter Grass. Within the mainstream of mythology appears a special kind of myth-maker--the mystic. Many a parallel between myth and mysticism is traced by Dr. Bolle, and he observes a current revival of interest in both. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Humor preferences in normal and physically handicapped children.

This study investigated the relationship of motor disabilities and humor ratings of activity and nonactivity cartoons by poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy, and normal children. Poliomyelitis children rated activity cartoons as funnier than nonactivity cartoons. They also rated activity cartoons higher than did cerebral palsy or normal children, and nonactivity cartoons lower than did cerebral palsy children. These differences could not be explained on the basis of age of affliction or motor patterns of the particular disabilities involved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

基于BERT的强化语境与语义信息的对话幽默识别模型

幽默识别是自然语言处理的新兴研究领域之一。对话的特殊结构使得在对话中的幽默识别相较于短文本幽默识别更具有挑战性。在对话中,除了当前话语以外,上下文语境信息对于幽默的识别也至关重要。因此,该文在已有研究的基础上结合对话的结构特征,提出基于BERT的强化语境与语义信息的对话幽默识别模型。模型首先使用BERT对发言人信息和话语信息进行编码,其次分别使用句级别的BiLSTM、CNN和Attention机制强化语境信息,使用词级别的BiLSTM和Attention机制强化语义信息。实验结果表明,该文方法能有效提升机器识别对话中幽默的能力。     

沧桑人世的真率抒怀——废名后期小说的情感特征

废名是我国现代抒情小说的开拓者之一。对于废名后期的小说,学者较多研究其现实性及禅意的变化,较少涉及小说的情感特征。文章结合废名的人生经历及其文学观的变化,着重探讨废名后期小说的情感特征：真挚率直、理性谐趣。     

从格赖斯合作原则看简·奥斯丁的语言艺术

简·奥斯丁是英国十九世纪初杰出的小说家。她善于巧妙地运用小说人物之间以及作者与读者之间交流对合作原则的违反使其语言具有幽默、诙谐效果的同时,进行反讽叙事,塑造生动、鲜明的人物形象,在诙谐、幽默中揭示作品的主题。本文以合作原则为理论框架,分析简·奥斯丁小说《傲慢与偏见》独特的语言艺术,以期验证格赖斯会话含义理论应用于文学作品赏析的可行性,也使我们对这一罂论应用于具体文本分析的有效性有更充分的认识。     

A joke is just a joke (except when it isn't): Cavalier humor beliefs facilitate the expression of group dominance motives.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 100(2) of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (see record 2011-01042-001). In the article “A Joke Is Just a Joke (Except When It Isn’t): Cavalier Humor Beliefs Facilitate the Expression of Group Dominance Motives,” by Gordon Hodson, Jonathan Rush, and Cara C. MacInnis (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2010, Vol. 99, No. 4, pp. 660–682), there was an error in Table 6. The last row of data should have read “Obese”, not “Mexican”.] Past research reveals preferences for disparaging humor directed toward disliked others. The group-dominance model of humor appreciation introduces the hypothesis that beyond initial outgroup attitudes, social dominance motives predict favorable reactions toward jokes targeting low-status outgroups through a subtle hierarchy-enhancing legitimizing myth: cavalier humor beliefs (CHB). CHB characterizes a lighthearted, less serious, uncritical, and nonchalant approach toward humor that dismisses potential harm to others. As expected, CHB incorporates both positive (affiliative) and negative (aggressive) humor functions that together mask biases, correlating positively with prejudices and prejudice-correlates (including social dominance orientation [SDO]; Study 1). Across 3 studies in Canada, SDO and CHB predicted favorable reactions toward jokes disparaging Mexicans (low-status outgroup). Neither individual difference predicted neutral (nonintergroup) joke reactions, despite the jokes being equally amusing and more inoffensive overall. In Study 2, joke content targeting Mexicans, Americans (high-status outgroup), and Canadians (high-status ingroup) was systematically controlled. Although Canadians preferred jokes labeled as anti-American overall, an underlying subtle pattern emerged at the individual-difference level: Only those higher in SDO appreciated those jokes labeled as anti-Mexican (reflecting social dominance motives). In all studies, SDO predicted favorable reactions toward low-status outgroup jokes almost entirely through heightened CHB, a subtle yet potent legitimatizing myth that “justifies” expressions of group dominance motives. In Study 3, a pretest–posttest design revealed the implications of this justification process: CHB contributes to trivializing outgroup jokes as inoffensive (harmless), subsequently contributing to postjoke prejudice. The implications for humor in intergroup contexts are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

从定向期待到创新期待的升华——浅论《围城》幽默翻译的接受美学

作为中国现代文学史上一道别致的风景,《围城》以其独特的幽默讽刺风格赢得了广大读者的赞誉。结合姚斯提出的期待视野概念阐述接受美学对《围城》中幽默翻译的诠释力,并指出在幽默翻译中,应该以译文读者的可接受性为原则来选择不同的翻译方法,最终实现期待视野的融合、幽默效果的传递。