Rod A. Martin & Thomas E. Ford: The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach SECOND EDITION (2018)

(Picture taken from "The Psychology of Humor 2nd Edition An Integrative Approach." Elsevier. (https://www.elsevier.com/books/the-psychology-of-humor/martin/978-0-12-812143-6. May 8, 2021.)

The Psychology of Humor: An Integrated Approach is a joint effort of Rod A. Martin and Thomas E. Ford. This book is composed of the following 11 chapters:

• Chapter 1. Introduction to the Psychology of Humor
• Chapter 2. Classic Theories of Humor
• Chapter 3. Contemporary Theories of Humor
• Chapter 4. The Personality Psychology of Humor
• Chapter 5. The Cognitive Psychology of Humor
• Chapter 6. The Physiological Psychology of Humor and Laughter
• Chapter 7. The Developmental Psychology of Humor
• Chapter 8. The Social Psychology of Humor
• Chapter 9. The Clinical Psychology of Humor: Humor and Mental Health 
• Chapter 10. The Health Psychology of Humor: Humor and Physical Health 
• Chapter 11. Applications of Humor in Education and in the Workplace

As the chapter titles reveal, this is not another humoristic publication that seeks to painstakingly offer one more new theory of humor that tries painfully to explain all cases of humor. It is a comprehensive survey of humor theories and studies with a focus on psychology but without negligence of other concerning fields.

Gil Greengross, in his review of the book "Survival of the Funniest," pinpoints the following aspects of the book:

• "Martin correctly points out, expecting humor research to be funny is analogous to assuming that writings about human sexuality should be sexually arousing (p.30)" (90-91).
• "[H]umor is a product of natural selection and why evolutionary explanations should be considered" (91).
• "Both are enjoyable, do not have any obvious or immediately serious function, and are performed in safe environments with familiar people (p.234)" (93).
• "[T]he absence of a research methods chapter" (94).

Although some may read this book with little excitement for it is not a tome of theoretical breakthrough, it is more than a general survey of the already-known textbook list of thoughts on humor. In many fields of studies, psychological or otherwise, The Psychology of Humor helps retrieve and revive some of the lost or forgotten researches from the past, as in the Gelastic Laughter section from "Chapter 6: The Physiological Psychology of Humor and Laughter":

• Gelastic Laughter
• The neurological condition gelastic epilepsy, first documented in 1873 (Holmes & Goldman, 2012), causes  patients  to  experience  seizures  in  the  form  of  uncontrolled  bouts  of  laughter.  Motor convulsions, eye movement abnormalities, and autonomic disturbances often accompany laughter during seizures. Furthermore, patients typically lose consciousness and report unawareness of these “laughter attacks” (151).

It is not inappropriate to come to the conclusion that The Psychology of Humor is not meant to be an introductory book for a beginner, but with its thorough survey and archaeological efforts, it is no doubt a worthy work even for an informed humorist.

MLA8

• Greengross, Gil. “Book Review: Survival of the Funniest.” Evolutionary Psychology, vol. 6, no. 1, 2008, p. 147470490800600., doi:10.1177/147470490800600111. 
• Holmes, Christina M., and Mitchell J. Goldman. “Seizures Presenting as Incessant Laughter: A Case of Gelastic Epilepsy.” The Journal of Emergency Medicine, vol. 43, no. 6, 2012, doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2012.02.068. 
• Martin, Rod. A, and Thomas E. Ford. The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. 2nd ed., Elsevier, 2018.