''Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious'' (german: Der Witz und seine Beziehung zum Unbewußten) is a 1905 book on the psychoanalysis of jokes and

humour Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in ...

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts ...

, the founder of

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

. In the work, Freud describes the psychological processes and techniques of jokes, which he compares to the processes and techniques of dreamwork and the unconscious.

Freud claims that "our enjoyment of the joke" indicates what is being repressed in more serious talk. Freud argues that the success of the joke depends upon a

psychic economy A psychic cost is a subset of social costs that specifically represent the costs of added stress or losses to quality of life. In managerial economics and marketing, psychic costs "measure the stress of having to think about a transaction". In the e ...

, whereby the joke allows one to overcome inhibitions. According to Freud, understanding of joke technique is essential for understanding jokes and their relation to the unconscious, however, these techniques are what make a joke a joke. Freud also noted that the listener laughing really heartily at the joke will typically not be in the mood for investigating its technique.Janks, Hilary. "Critical literacy: Beyond reason." ''The Australian Educational Researcher'' 29, no. 1 (2002): 7-26.

Structure

The book is divided into three sections: "analytic," "synthetic" and "theoretical."

Analytic part

The book's first section includes a discussion on the techniques and tendencies of jokes.

Synthetic part

The second section includes a discussion on the psychological origins and motives of the joke and the joke as a social process.

Theoretical part

The book's final section discusses the joke's relation to dreams and the Unconscious.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious 1905 non-fiction books Books by Sigmund Freud

Contents

Structure

Analytic part

Synthetic part

Theoretical part

See also

References