Online experiment to study the psychology of humour

Samantha Chan Edinburgh

Scientists have set up an online experiment where jokes will be submitted and then rated on a "Laughometer" in a bid to take a serious look at the psychology of humour. Anyone can participate by logging on to the project's website www.laughlab.co.uk to submit favourite jokes or rate the ones that are already in the lab's archives. If all goes according to plan, Laugh Lab will make history as the largest ever look into the psychology of humour. "We are looking for at least 1000 jokes to be submitted to get the experiment off to a flying start," said psychologist Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire, who devised the site. "Each month we will announce which jokes received the highest "Laughometer" ratings. Then, in September 2002, we will reveal the top entry, and crown it the nation's funniest joke."

The website was launched in September at the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Glasgow, where several famous British scientists submitted their jokes to the site. Visitors who wish to rate jokes will first be asked to fill in a questionnaire about their age, gender, and nationality, as well as a brief cognition quiz. "We'll be able to answer questions like, 'Are there jokes that women find funny but men don't?'" Wiseman said. "And we can see if there's a universal joke that is funny all across the world."

In addition, the team hopes to discover the best pause between the opening of a joke and its punchline by getting a professional comedian to record some of the funniest jokes with varying timing, and then letting visitors to the website rate the performances. The project will draw to a climactic close a year from now, when one lucky individual gets to listen to the funniest joke in the world, told with the optimum timing, while scientists study a scan of their brain.



studentBMJ 2001;09:399-442 November ISSN 0966-6494