Wit and its relation to the unconsciousFreud, Sigmund
Science
Wit and its relation to the unconscious
Freud, Sigmund
Subconsciousness; Wit and humor -- Psychological aspects
But now there appears another impulse which strives to set free pleasure
by this identical process, even though from different sources it thus
acts like the suppressed stream. What can be the result in such a case?
An example can make this clearer than this schematization. There is an
impulse to insult a certain person; but this is so strongly opposed by a
feeling of decorum and æsthetic culture that the impulse to insult must
be crushed. If, for example, by virtue of some changed emotional state
the insult should happen to break through, this insulting tendency would
subsequently be painfully perceived. Therefore the insult is omitted.
There is a possibility, however, of making good wit from the words or
thoughts which would have served in the insult; that is, pleasure can be
set free from other sources without being hindered by the same
suppression. But the second development of pleasure would have to be
foregone if the insulting quality of the wit were not allowed to come
out, and as the latter is allowed to come to the surface, it is
connected with the new release of pleasure. Experience with tendency-wit
shows that under such circumstances the suppressed tendency can become
so strengthened by the aid of wit-pleasure as to overcome the otherwise
stronger inhibition. One resorts to insults because wit is thereby made
impossible. But the satisfaction thus obtained is not produced by wit
alone; it is incomparably greater, in fact it is by so much greater than
the pleasure of the wit, that we must assume that the former suppressed
tendency has succeeded in breaking through, perhaps without the need of
an outlet. Under these circumstances tendency-wit causes the most
prolific laughter.
Perhaps the investigation of the determinations of laughter will aid us
in forming a clearer picture of the process of the aid of wit against
suppression. But we see even now that the case of tendency-wit is a
special case of the principle of aid. A possibility of the development
of pleasure enters into a situation in which another pleasure
possibility is so hindered that individually it would not result in
pleasure. The result is a development of pleasure which is greater by
far than the added possibility. The latter acted, as it were, as an
_alluring premium_; with the aid of a small sum of pleasure a very large
and almost inaccessible amount is obtained. I have good grounds for
thinking that this principle corresponds to an arrangement which holds
true in many widely separated spheres of the psychic life, and I
consider it appropriate to designate the pleasure serving to liberate
the large sum of pleasure as _fore-pleasure_ and the principle as the
_principle of fore-pleasure_.
_Play-pleasure and Removal-pleasure_
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