Misattribution and humor appreciation: A comment on "Enhancement of humor appreciation by transferred excitation."

Abstract

A study by Cantor, Bryant, and Zillmann testing a misattribution -excitation transfer account of humor appreciation is reviewed. It is concluded that the results can also be explained by Berlyne's theory of collative motivation and that Cantor et al.'s interpretation of their data and discounting of alternative explanations raise some critical problems. Although a misattribution account of humor appreciation is an appealing notion, Cantor et al.'s study does not provide unambiguous support.