Making a Square Amusing - Article Example

‘The emotional effects of violations of causality, or how to make a square amusing’ is a research report that was authored by Bressanelli Daniela and was published on 2 March 2012. This paper seeks to offer a summary of the report.
Introduction
Preliminary publications indicated that comic is an effect of observations made, as was held by Koestler. Such preliminary information has however focused on features of factors that instigate humor. The effects of such factors on humor have however remained unexplored. Literature has also established that humor is a response to an occurrence. Further, a relationship between an induced comic effect and the factor to the comic in terms of psychological and mechanical factors has been established. A close relationship between psychological and mechanical elements induces a higher degree of comic effect as opposed to a conflicting relationship between the two (Bressanelli, p. 2).
The article seeks to investigate the effects of incongruence in phenomenon on humor. It, therefore, established its base on causal effect. The experiment used two variables, ‘animacy’ and comic. While comic is the dependent variable, ‘animacy’ is the independent variable. This means that the observations made with respect to comic effect rely on developed perceptions from the used animation. The established hypothesis to be tested in the research is that ‘the comical effect achieved is directly proportional to the incongruence between cause and effect’. The research further hypothesized that the degree of comical effect is enhanced by the use of animation. The alternative hypothesis for the research would therefore be the statement that ‘the degree of comical effect is not directly proportional to the incongruence between cause and effect’ (Bressanelli, p. 2).
Methods
The research adopted an experimental design in which involved motions and animated reactions of squares. The presentation was then separately made to individuals who were then asked to describe their perception of the developed comic effect and the used animation. The responses were then rated and normalized. The participants in the experiment were a sample of people who were randomly selected. The experimental setup involved an independent and random presentation of the animation to the participants and a collection of the participants’ perceptions for analysis (Bressanelli, p. p. 2, 3).
The graphs for individual participants showed a positive linear trend for both animation and the comic effect and a linear relationship between the two variables (Bressanelli, p. 3, 4).
Discussion
The results of the study supported the existing literature that comic effect is dependent on causal effect. This is because of the established linear model that supports a positive relationship as shown below,
C= - 0.06 + 0.4 a
where c and a represents comic effect and animation effect respectively. Read More