Wit and its relation to the unconsciousFreud, Sigmund
Science
Wit and its relation to the unconscious
Freud, Sigmund
Subconsciousness; Wit and humor -- Psychological aspects
The species of the comic that is most closely allied to wit is the
_naïve_. Like the comic the naïve is found universally and is not made
like in the case of wit. The naïve cannot be made at all, while in the
case of the pure comic the question of making or evoking the comical may
be taken into account. The naïve must result without our intervention
from the speech and actions of other persons who take the place of the
_second_ person in the comic or in wit. The naïve originates when one
puts himself completely outside of inhibition, because it does not exist
for him; that is, if he seems to overcome it without any effort. What
conditions the function of the naïve is the fact that we are aware that
the person does not possess this inhibition, otherwise we should not
call it naïve but impudent, and instead of laughing we should be
indignant. The effect of the naïve, which is irresistible, seems easy to
understand. An expenditure of that inhibition energy which is commonly
already formed in us suddenly becomes inapplicable when we hear the
naïve and is discharged through laughter; as the removal of the
inhibition is direct, and not the result of an incited operation, there
is no need for a suspension of attention. We behave like the hearer in
wit, to whom the economy of inhibition is given without any effort on
his part.
In view of the understanding about the genesis of inhibitions which we
obtained while tracing the development of play into wit, it will not
surprise us to learn that the naïve is mostly found in children,
although it may also be observed in uneducated adults, whom we look on
as children as far as their intellectual development is concerned. For
the purposes of comparison with wit, naïve speech is naturally better
adapted than naïve actions, for speech and not actions are the usual
forms of expression employed by wit. It is significant, however, that
naïve speeches, such as those of children, can without straining also be
designated as “naïve witticisms.” The points of agreement as well as
demonstration between wit and naïveté will become clear to us upon
consideration of a few examples.[66]
_A little girl of three years was accustomed to hear from her German
nurse the exclamatory word “Gesundheit” (God bless you!; literally, may
you be healthy!) whenever she happened to sneeze. While suffering from a
severe cold during which the profuse coughing and sneezing caused her
considerable pain, she pointed to her chest and said to her father,
“Daddy, Gesundheit hurts.”_
_Another little girl of four years heard her parents refer to a Jewish
acquaintance as a Hebrew, and on later hearing the latter’s wife
referred to as Mrs. X, she corrected her mother, saying, “No, that is
not her name; if her husband is a Hebrew she is a Shebrew.”_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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