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Humor is the [[name ]] given to the [[psychic ]] [[process ]] that operates in the field of the [[preconscious]], based on the [[dynamic ]] interrelation between the [[agencies ]] of the [[mind]], and akin to a [[defense ]] [[mechanism]], consisting of an unexpected re-evaluation of the [[demands ]] of [[reality ]] that reverses their painful emotional tone and thereby offers to the triumphant ego that yield of [[pleasure ]] which enables it to demonstrate its invulnerable [[narcissism]].

[[Freud]]'s first insight into the mechanism of this phenomenon, which was entrenched in the [[family ]] and [[community ]] [[life ]] in which he was deeply involved, came in the last pages of [[Jokes ]] and their Relation to the [[Unconscious ]] (1905c). It was, in fact, on the [[death ]] of his [[father ]] that he started to collect [[Jewish ]] jokes (Witze) and, at the [[insistence ]] of Wilhelm [[Fliess]], developed a [[theory ]] to explain [[them]], bringing out how their very condition of possibility lay in the [[activity ]] of this process within the humorist. Although he pointed out (1908c) the kinship between this process and [[children]]'s [[games]], he did not elucidate it in metapsychological [[terms ]] until the brief article of 1927 (1927d).

Unlike [[comedy ]] and wit, or even irony, all of which aim at the [[satisfaction ]] of [[erotic ]] or [[aggressive ]] [[drives ]] and necessitate, for this [[purpose]], the effective [[presence ]] of a [[real ]] [[third ]] party, humor involves a strictly intrapsychic process of indirection whose purpose is [[economic]], viz., sparing the [[subject ]] from the painful [[feelings ]] (pity, irritation, anger, [[suffering]], disgust, tenderness, [[horror]], etc.) that the [[situation ]] ought to occasion. The [[energy ]] of these feelings is thus diverted and transformed into the moderate but triumphant pleasure (so different from the explosion of hilarity) that is expressed in the smile of humor. As a result, the humorist reaffirms his [[narcissistic ]] invulnerability, assuring himself that [[nothing ]] [[traumatic ]] can [[affect ]] him, and that he can in fact find in such things a yield of pleasure.

This [[being ]] the [[case]], although humor is an [[autonomous ]] process, it is encountered most often mixed with [[other ]] forms of the comic, in which it finds a mode of expression, with which it is often confused, and for which it intervenes as a mechanism that inhibits any emotions that would obstruct its [[development]].

Nonetheless, Freud considers humor as a particularly salubrious activity, making of it the rarest and most elaborate [[form ]] of defense. Yet its benefits turn out in fact to be costly, necessitating a large outlay, since while this economic process, being neither [[denial ]] nor [[repression]], leads to a [[reversal ]] of emotional tone, it does not eliminate the painful [[representation]]. Freud explained this as the result of a new [[topographical ]] arrangement: the humorist takes the psychic emphasis off the ego and displaces it onto his [[superego]]: "Look! here is the [[world]], which seems so dangerous! It is nothing but a [[game ]] for children—just worth making a jest [[about]]!" (1927d, p. 166).

In fact, humor leads to a set of notions whose origin, [[nature]], [[history]], and development thus all [[need ]] to be re-examined, as they all indubitably hark back to the genesis of the [[ideal ]] psychic agencies and their function in establishing a humorous attitude towards reality. All of these dimensions, indeed—whether it be the invulnerable narcissistic kernel of which the humorist is a [[living ]] testimony, the exercise of the reality [[principle]], the [[experience ]] of [[pain]], the mechanism of [[illusion]], or the [[alchemy ]] of the emotions that it produces—invite [[reflection ]] on the precocious relations that were formed between the humorist and his [[mother ]] who bequeathed to him this precious [[gift ]] (Donnet, J.-L., 1997; Kameniak, J.-P., 1998). For example, we need to reflect—as did Freud—on the enigma of the "[[essence ]] of the [[Super-ego]]," a superego that manifests itself in an atypical form of functioning: as a reassuring and consoling agency—even a [[maternal ]] one—that is barely consistent with the severity usually associated with it, whether in the commands it issues or in its [[role ]] as [[representative ]] and guardian of the [[reality principle]].

While humor was initially considered as a variety of the comic genre, in the same way as wit (with which it is often confused), Freud early on endeavored to distinguish it through topographical localization, the kind of [[gratification ]] it affords, the [[absence ]] of the need for a third person, and, finally, the specific nature of the process, all of which make it a [[character ]] disposition or [[trait ]] rather than a random production. Consequently, over and above the defensive use that has been classically recognized and associated with the process of humor, we might [[want ]] to ask whether it could have a specific function of [[working]]-through, very different from the relaxation which is brought about by the comic effect, thus tempering any [[excess ]] of [[emotion]]; how any real "[[work ]] of humor" is actually accomplished; and what its nature might be. Whereas, when faced with the hostility of events, the risk of [[trauma ]] may appear to be significant, humor does allow the subject to maintain the integrity of his psychic functions and their availability while also acknowledging the "disruptive" nature of reality. We can surely envisage the possibility (Bergeret, 1973) that there are hints of a [[working-through ]] involved in humor, or, at the very least, the establishment of the framework needed for any possible integration of the sufferings inflicted on the subject.

Nevertheless, it cannot escape notice that there has been a general [[lack ]] of interest and a relative [[silence ]] on the part of contemporary [[analysts ]] when it comes to this subject, apparently so frivolous though in fact it raises fundamental questions. Up until now, [[analytic ]] [[literature ]] on this theme has scarcely extended beyond a few scattered remarks or occasional articles, and most of them use humor as a generic [[category ]] succeeding that of "the comic" proposed by Freud. Consequently, they are more likely to discuss the techniques and procedures of the modes of expression to which humor resorts than to examine the process of humor itself.

See also: Almanach der Psychoanalyse; [[Creativity]]; Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious; [[Paradox]].[[Bibliography]]