Humor is an important, ubiquitous phenomenon; however, seemingly disparate conditions seem to facilitate humor. We integrate these conditions by... » More

Humor is an important, ubiquitous phenomenon; however, seemingly disparate conditions seem to facilitate humor. We

integrate these conditions by suggesting that laughter and amusement result from violations that are simultaneously seen as

benign. We investigated three conditions that make a violation benign and thus humorous: (a) the presence of an alternative

norm suggesting that the situation is acceptable, (b) weak commitment to the violated norm, and (c) psychological distance

from the violation. We tested the benign-violation hypothesis in the domain of moral psychology, where there is a strong

documented association between moral violations and negative emotions, particularly disgust. Five experimental studies show

that benign moral violations tend to elicit laughter and amusement in addition to disgust. Furthermore, seeing a violation as

both wrong and not wrong mediates behavioral displays of humor. Our account is consistent with evolutionary accounts of

laughter, explains humor across many domains, and suggests that humor can accompany negative emotion.

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