I can't seem to get something funny out of my mind and I was wondering if anyone on TIPS and a thought about this. Recently I featured this funny Vine video on my podcast:
https://vine.co/v/hOjHxFjDznT I talked about the video in terms of stereotypes, but I keep wondering why the "4x4=16" part is funny. The only concept that came to mind is that of "perceptual set". I remember some study where participants are shown a series of pictures of rabbits and then are shown the duck/rabbit illusion. In this case, they see the rabbit easily because as I understand it the researchers have created through the repeated presentations of the rabbit pictures an expectation or a perceptual set for rabbits. So here's what I've been thinking: we're all pretty much used to seeing "4x4" on a blackboard as a multiplication question. When you see "4x4" on a car you used to thinking of it in terms of "four by four" and not in terms of multiplication. So is the video funny because it forces us to change our way of thinking? It forces us to think of something we typically think of in one way, in another way. But I’m still left with this question: why does sudden "switching" of perspective make us laugh? Michael Michael A. Britt, Ph.D. [email protected] http://www.ThePsychFiles.com Twitter: @mbritt --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=31083 or send a blank email to leave-31083-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
