On the pleasures of the mind related to humor and insight problem solving.

This presentation examines the cognitive and affective commonalities and differences between humour and insight problems, focusing on the reasons given by the participants to explain their preferences. Four studies were carried out in which participants were asked to choose the two cartoons or the two visuo-spatial insight problems that they liked the most and the two that they liked the least. They were then asked to explain the reasons for their choices. The responses were analyzed based on a set of categories inspired by the Theory of the Pleasures of the Mind (Kubovy, 1999). Many overlaps consistently emerged between cartoons and insight puzzles in the categories relating to Curiosity, Violation of expectation, and Virtuosity, confirming an overall similarity between these two “pleasures of the mind”. They are nevertheless distinct in terms of certain aspects. For instance, the most common reason for liking a cartoon was that it elicited a sense of General happiness and Lack of surprise more often motivated dislike for a cartoon, whereas lack of Joy of verification was the main reason for disliking an insight puzzle – and indeed finding the solution to a problem is associated with a positive evaluation if it.