What does it mean that there is a little seriousness behind all jokes?

Someone asked, "Half-truth and half-falsehood jokes hide truth and truth. Is this sentence reasonable? " Faced with this problem, I think of a widely circulated sentence by Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. "There is no such thing as a joke, and all jokes have serious elements." Although I'm not sure if this sentence was said by Lao Fu himself (sorry, I can't find the source), it can be explained by his theory.

Half-truth jokes hide people's true wishes, and there is some truth. But this does not mean that all jokes reflect people's hearts. If so, no one dares to joke. It can only be said that in many jokes, there is a trace of truth hidden inside, which can only be discovered by sensitive or professional people.

To explain this problem, we have to mention Freud's psychoanalytic theory about consciousness and subconscious.

Freud was an Austrian psychiatrist, psychologist and the founder of psychoanalysis. The original texts of Freud's theories are all translated from German, which is difficult to understand. Here, I try to explain them in a popular way. If there are any errors, please correct them.

How does psychology understand "there is no such thing as a joke, all jokes have serious elements"

Floyd

Subconscious, pre-conscious and conscious

Psychoanalysis divides people's psychological activities into consciousness and subconscious. Consciousness is an explicit and processed representation of consciousness, and it is all psychological activities that we can perceive ourselves. Subconscious is a kind of psychological activity that lurks, hides and suppresses under the level of consciousness.

All spiritual things exist in the subconscious, and some also exist in the consciousness. The subconscious must be regarded as the universal foundation of spiritual life. The subconscious is a larger scope, including a smaller scope of consciousness. -Palisse's Subconscious Terms in Psychology

From the above theory, the subconscious is the basis of all our psychological activities, and the consciousness we can perceive is only a small part of it. The subconscious mind is a huge and active area, and it will not stop even if we fall asleep or concentrate on a certain point. And only a few of them will become consciousness and be perceived by us.

From our point of view, there are two kinds of subconscious mind. The first one, which we call the subconscious (or translated into unconsciousness), cannot enter the consciousness; The second kind is called pre-consciousness, because its excitement follows certain conventions and can reach consciousness. They may not reach consciousness until they pass the examination again, but they can ignore the subconscious. -Freud's interpretation of dreams

How does psychology understand "there is no such thing as a joke, all jokes have serious elements"

Consciousness, pre-consciousness, pre-consciousness

According to the above description, we have such cognition. People's spiritual world is divided into consciousness and subconscious, and the subconscious is divided into pre-consciousness and subconscious (unconscious). The part of the subconscious (unconscious) cannot enter the consciousness, nor can it be perceived, but the pre-consciousness can reach the consciousness. Even if it doesn't enter consciousness, it will exist in some form in the pre-consciousness.

The pre-conscious system is like a barrier between the subconscious and the conscious. Pre-conscious system not only blocks the channel of conscious and subconscious, but also controls the channel of automatic movement, and has the right to control the spread of energy devoted to sports experience, some of which are familiar to everyone. -Freud's interpretation of dreams

From this, we can understand that the whole spiritual world is based on the subconscious mind, and some subconscious thoughts cannot directly enter the consciousness. Only by first transforming into pre-consciousness, then breaking through some censorship or screening restrictions, and finally entering our consciousness. If it fails to pass the examination, it exists in the pre-consciousness, waiting for the next breakthrough opportunity; Or be suppressed and absorbed by the subconscious again.

The "censorship system" here can be popularly understood as an internalized rule and norm formed by people in the process of social growth. When it comes to specific things, it will be manifested as specific conscious constraints. This internalized "censorship system" controls what pre-conscious content can enter consciousness and what can't, and then affects people's internal or external behavior.

How does psychology understand "there is no such thing as a joke, all jokes have serious elements"

The influence of pre-consciousness on behavior

The subconscious plays a role all the time, but most of it is suppressed, and consciousness reflects the content released by the censorship. Those contents that have not been released are still suppressed in the pre-consciousness, and these contents are still active. When the power of repression weakens or there is a loophole, they will slip out.

Although these contents suppressed in the pre-consciousness do not enter the consciousness, they will affect people's behavior invisibly after breaking through the limitation of consciousness, such as through some action details. Because they don't attract the attention of consciousness and are not controlled by consciousness.

For example, when we meet a person for the first time, whether we like him or hate him, there are answers in our subconscious. If the answer is yes, our consciousness will naturally suppress or restrict it, such as "I won't like a strange man I just met, which will make me too casual" or "I can't please her, although she is so sexy, I must keep my manners".

However, as mentioned above, although the pre-consciousness is suppressed by consciousness and will not become consciousness, it will affect people's behavior where consciousness does not pay attention, and it will also be reflected in some details. For example, although we consciously suppress "liking him", our knees unconsciously tend to like the object.

How does psychology understand "there is no such thing as a joke, all jokes have serious elements"

The influence of pre-consciousness

And why does "joking" also cause this depression to weaken? Because according to the experience of consciousness, people will not take "joking" seriously, so they will relax their vigilance against the influence of "pre-conscious content" on actual behavior. The reduction of the power of repression provides opportunities for the pre-consciousness, exposing some contents limited by consciousness.

In short, the so-called "serious elements in jokes" are actually the repressed thoughts (real but not expressed) in our pre-consciousness, which are inadvertently revealed when joking. There are many similar phenomena or applications in life, such as "getting carried away", "suggestion" and "hypnosis", which may be related to the influence of pre-consciousness.

To sum up, it makes sense to say that "half-true and half-false jokes hide truth and falsehood". In other words, some thoughts or thoughts that we can't reveal but are real will be exposed through some casual behaviors under the influence of subconscious (pre-) consciousness, and "joking" is one of them.

Of course, if you are not a professional in this field, it is not recommended to interpret it at will. Because there may be some misunderstandings, leading to some unnecessary troubles. (End)