He Who Laughs: A Social Interactionist Theory of the Humor Audience

Abstract

Humor demands an immediate audience response, but both the initiating move and the response take place in a context where each party is aware that they are being observed (and their actions judged) by the other. Further, “laughter” is too simple a term to describe the variety and nuance of responses available to humor audience. Finally, I suggest that audience actions are informed by a folk theory of humor, according to which responses to humor are authentic indicators of a person’s personality and moral character.