The world’s funniest joke
Did you think that "The world’s funniest joke" was just a joke? Well, think again! What most of us probably just think of as one of the bizarre quirks of Monty Python humor has actually been the subject of psychological study at the University of Hertfordshire. Professor Richard Wiseman devised a set of experiments, the LaughLab, in order to investigate the psychology of humor. As with all research in experimental psychology (and many other disciplines for that matter), there are probably a number of objections against Wiseman’s methods and interpertation of the data, but never the less it is an interesting study (I think there is still a lot to be learned about how human mind works through this kind of studies), and, admittedly, the joke is pretty funny:
The world’s funniest joke as reported by The Telegraph
Professor Wiseman’s research is also interesting from a methodological point of veiw, as it uses the internet as a means of gathering information. The internet provides the opportunity to acquire huge amounts of data from lots of people all around the world. But how does one make scientific use of data gathered this way? How do we investigate its reliability?
(Via: Forskning och Framsteg blogg)
Jag läste vitsen på hemsidan. Inte fan skrattade jag direkt. Visst, den var fyndig, men inte speciellt mycket mer.
Comment by Daniel — July 16, 2006 @ 12:01 am
Jag har ju hört avsevärt roligare skämt, men jag medger gärna att jag drog på smilbanden åt det. Och sedan tycker jag att det är roligt i sig att man kan göra en sådan undersökning.
Comment by Magnus — July 16, 2006 @ 11:39 am