Dr. De Bono about Humour
I have started to study the role of HUMOUR in "good thinking"
I have a question to you- why considers Dr, De Bono
that humor is such an important mental activity?
I think it is not easy to define correctly what is and what is NOT humour.
I have a question to you- why considers Dr, De Bono
that humor is such an important mental activity?
I think it is not easy to define correctly what is and what is NOT humour.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sinclair McLay on -
There once was a joker called Ted
Who studied the insides of heads
He blew the gaff
By having a laugh
And now old philosophy’s dead
Good question Peter. I’m no expert but I do recall Dr De Bono remarking:
‘It has always surprised me how little attention philosophers have paid to humor, since it is a more significant process of mind than reason. Reason can only sort out perceptions, but the humor process is involved in changing them.’
I found that startling, profound and in its own way, hilarious !
PS Your post about the Wisdom Of Crowds was very thought-provoking – so much so that I’m still thinking about it !
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Permalink Reply by Peter Gluck on
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Thnk you dear Sinclair,
Exactly this quotation was the trigger of my question. It seems to me a bit too risky to consider humour more creative than reason- they have to work together and reason has some precedence over humour plus it is necessary for the final control of the most funniest ideas.
Wisdom of Crowds is a false idea; actually it exploits the Power of Diversity and opens a great avenue to Populism and Mediocracy. We need the wisdom of experts not the statistical manipulations of the opinions of many people who actually does not understand what happens
Peter
Sinclair McLay said:There once was a joker called Ted
Who studied the insides of heads
He blew the gaff
By having a laugh
And now old philosophy’s dead
Good question Peter. I’m no expert but I do recall Dr De Bono remarking:
‘It has always surprised me how little attention philosophers have paid to humor, since it is a more significant process of mind than reason. Reason can only sort out perceptions, but the humor process is involved in changing them.’
I found that startling, profound and in its own way, hilarious !
PS Your post about the Wisdom Of Crowds was very thought-provoking – so much so that I’m still thinking about it !
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Permalink Reply by Sinclair McLay on
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Reason and humour must work together – of course. My interpretation of the interplay between the two is that humour may help suggest designs for building the boat but of course reason and judgement must then be brought into play before embarkation..and of course humour will definitely be needed after setting out on the troubled seas of thought !
Wisdom of the Crowds. Experts are needed, no doubt. But where do they fit in in the relationship between leaders and led ? What is the role of the Civil Service ?
Do all experts have a continuing moral integrity ?
I myself am a ‘Trust The People’ democrat but that is just an opinion – I am very respectful of the point of view that True Democracy is not possible till people are able to think for themselves.
But how do we know when and if that point will arrive ?
Perhaps there are cultural differences.
Perhaps I am being naive and reckless.
A fascinating subject.
PS A quick thought experiment. If people were asked who should be paid more – a nurse or a property speculator ? – how do you think they would reply ?
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Dear Sinclair,
if I remember correctly, Dr. De Bono had many initiatives to make democracy better.
There had been many bright ideas but as regarding applications of these...I
don't know. However this is an other thread...I wish to know more about the creative
potential of humour, if possible. A complex issue. Perhaps you- or an other colleague
knows about and has insight of about Alastair Clarke's new theory of humor and this can lead to solutions of the problems
and to creative approaches of the non-problematic situations.
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Permalink Reply by Sinclair McLay on
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I too would be interested in views on Clarkes work. Unfortunately I have not read the book. Hopefully someone else can take it on from here.
Good talking to you Peter.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Rodgers on
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Hi Peter,
The reason that Edward de Bono places so much emphasis on the importance of humour to thinking is that, like lateral thinking, it is a pattern-breaking process. Humour works by causing what de Bono would call an "insight switchover" from a familiar pattern to a new, unexpected one. It is this moment of surprise and realization that triggers the 'Ha! Ha!' response.
There are several ways of bringing this effect about, of course, but the easiest one to explain is the format of the conventional joke. Regardless of the subject-matter of the joke, the 'set-up' leads the audience down a familiar, 'reasonable' pathway. When this pattern has been established (whether as part of a “one-liner” or a longer, “shaggy dog” story) the punch line suddenly shifts their attention 'laterally' into a different, hitherto unseen track.
Although it is a little dated now, an example used by de Bono in one of his early books makes the point well. It goes something like this:
Bob Hope said that he was very disappointed with his Christmas present this year. All he got was three golf clubs. And only two of those had swimming pools!
The 'mind pattern' that is initially triggered by the mention of golf clubs in the context of a Christmas present is one that includes woods, irons and putters. When swimming pools are mentioned, the expectancy established by this pattern is suddenly broken and a completely unexpected track opened up. Paradoxically, this new meaning makes sense retrospectively (at least in the context of a wealthy individual like Bob Hope), otherwise it wouldn’t have been funny!
De Bono argues that this ‘switchover’ process occurs naturally through such things as mistakes and misunderstanding as well as through humour. But waiting for such natural events to occur as the source of new insights is inefficient in relation to specific areas of focus. And it is for that reason that he invented the principles and practice of lateral thinking. This sets out to counter the natural (and essential) pattern-forming nature of the brain, by looking to trigger new patterns that otherwise would not have emerged.
I hope this helps.
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Thank you Chris!
I like your answer and I am asking for your permission to publish it in translation in my
newsletter Info Kappa (in romanian) issue no 359- Humour -2. Thanks!
I fully agree with your explanation. My own work is concerned with real life problem solving and I am trying to elaborate the most general but most pragmatical rules according to which the most stubborn problems can be solved.
A problem is a situation which can be changed for betterment, solution is the change performed in orde to accomplish this improvement. What is essential, there are WICKED and HIDDEN problems. For "wicked" please study the Web in acse you are not familiar with the concept. It is a real scienece here!
Solving problems means going from an existing reality to a desired, more convenient, reality.
A hidden problem is one that is not obvious and actually does not seem to need a solution.
However the world is a more beautiful pleasant place with the Iliad, Mona Lisa, the Discobolus of Myron, Byron's Manfred, Stan and Bran's movies, the aria of old Philip from Don Carlos, Rodin's The Thinker, Dickens's Pickwick Club and myriads of other great creations of the human genius. They make our existence more worthy but we could not guess or predict that they are good for us. Creativity is the realm of hidden problems.
Now back to humour- exactly as creativity humour is a product of the unexpected and the unpredicted, is a form of surprise, something NEW.
Real life problems are differing from mathematical problems:
- their assumptions can and HAVE to be changed;
- the data, means and tools for solving a real problem have to be found, in part, outside the problem. seems to be a truism, but it is not.
Let's take a classical example of a really very wicked problem- please do a search for : "father son donkey" It seems to be a really difficult problem with no solution- and it really is so I have described this old story in an editorial and told about father and son complaining to a wise innkeeper about the problem. And the innkeeper says: " If you wish to really solve the problem
and nobody will should you something wrong- buy a cart and put the donkey to pull it- it will be solved perfectly. Without the cart- it is impossible! The solution needs the introduction of a new element.
Anyway homour is something that generates new solutions- is a school of creativity i.e of solving problems that seem to NOT exist but actually they can be made to be understood after solution generation.
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Dear Luis,
Thank you, I hope you will read my posts at my blog Ego Out. My main
preoccupation is new sources of energy and problem solving- my Rules
are now translated in 16 languages,Re humour, I have a rather indecent short S theory of it,
Humour is Surprise combined with Sex, Sadism, Shit and Stupidity.
Can you please tell jokes that are exceptions to the S rule?Peter
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Dear Luis,
The apple-orange "joke" is irrational, impossible, stupid de facto
in the best sense of this word. For common sense it is an idiocy
to think an apple and an orange can discuss!For the second, the clue is sadism, it is dreadful to eat sand!
Imagine it!Both jokes are on the boarder between humour and word-play,
Peter
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Dear Luis,
I have read a lot about humour starting with Henri
Bergson\s "The Laugh" when I was a teenager.
The subject is as slippery as an hyperactive eel.
Let's retire for a while and make an Web study of the
latest discoveries., OK?
Peter -
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Permalink Reply by Asa Jomard on -
For more please go to Women's Wednesday.
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Dear Asa,
I have read the paper. Because it is published and because it is
by Hitchens (how do you say/write R.I.P. in atheistese?) it does
not mean that it is entirely, completely, definitively true -everything
it says. There are fragments of truth mixed chunks of untruth.
It is contradicted by at least two categories of jokes - re blondes
based on stupidity plus sex and on feminine senility: Senility an other
S-word, a sub-division of sadism. (an aside- perhaps the best humor
Laurel and Hardy- at us Stan and Bran- is definitely sadistic and so
is Chaplin too)
To be receptive to humour, to understand the jokes is a quality, a
form of intelligence my wife is perhaps a bit better than me.By the way, I am a feminist, my former newsletter INFO KAPPA has
collaborated with many Romanian feminists. Females and males are
different in thinking for example, but is an error to speak about superiority
and inferiority. Think about multi-tasking as an example.
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