Because of the incongruity.
On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 1:53 PM, Michael Britt <mich...@thepsychfiles.com>wrote: > 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. > mich...@thepsychfiles.com > http://www.ThePsychFiles.com > Twitter: @mbritt > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: devoldercar...@gmail.com. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443341&n=T&l=tips&o=31083 > or send a blank email to > leave-31083-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > -- Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 563-333-6482 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=31086 or send a blank email to leave-31086-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
