Table Of ContentHUMOR AND AGING
Edited by
Lucille Nahemow
Gerontology Center
West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia
Kathleen A. McCluskey-Fawcett
Department of Psychology
West Virginia University
Morgantown, West Virginia
Paul E. McGhee
Department of Human Development and Family Studies
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas
1986
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers
Orlando San Diego New York Austin
London Montreal Sydney Tokyo Toronto
COPYRIGHT © 1986 BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR
TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC
OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR
ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT
PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER.
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
Orlando, Florida 32887
United Kingdom Edition published by
ACADEMIC PRESS INC. (LONDON) LTD.
24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Main entry under title:
Humor and aging.
Includes index.
1. Aged —Psychology. 2. Aging —Psychological
aspects. 3. Wit and humor—Psychological aspects.
4. Old age—Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc.
5. Aging—Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc.
6. Death —Anecdotes, facetiae, satire, etc.
I. Nahemow, Lucille. II. McCluskey-Fawcett, Kathleen A.
III. McGhee, Paul E.
BF724.85.H86H86 1985 155.67 85-7456
ISBN 0-12-513790-7 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-12-513791-5 (paperback)
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
86 87 88 89 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
MARTIN Β. LOEB (1913-1983)
This book is dedicated to Martin Loeb, past president of the Geron-
tological Society of America, who first suggested that a comprehensive
study of humor and aging be undertaken. His life, which was rapidly
coming to a close (he died on 26 April 1983), served as an outstanding
demonstration of the importance of humor in facing life and coping
with aging. The following illustrations provided by his friends and
colleagues exemplify the dynamic and multifaceted relationship
among humor, growth, and aging.
Edgar F. Borgatta wrote:
Martin Loeb was good humored and appreciated the foibles in life. If Murphy's
Law had never been passed, if the Peter Principle had never been discovered,
and if the book on Parkinson's Law had never appeared, Martin's appreciation
of how things operate wouldn't have been different. His analyses of how bu-
reaucracies operate, how the people in them behave, and what the conse-
quences are were sardonic and humorous. No one would ever accuse Martin of
being a statistician, but he understood the appropriate statistical model, and so
his analyses and expectations were usually correct. If it can be done badly, it
will be, and he almost universally predicted the bad outcome. He was usually
correct, and his descriptions of how the events came about were always enter-
taining. And, he would note, you might as well think they are funny. What's the
alternative?
Robert Havighurst provided an article from the University of Wis-
consin News for 8 August 1973, which Martin Loeb had sent to him.
Director Named for Institute on Aging
Dr. Martin B. Loeb, Director of the School of Social Work at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, has been appointed Director of the new Faye McBeath
Institute on Aging and Adult Life on the Madison campus.
ν
vi Martin Β. Loeb
In his own handwriting, Martin wrote: "Bob: You started me on this-
They gave the Institute to me for my 60th Birthday."
Sandra Howell said:
I remember Martin on an occasion of playful joy, in Grand Cayman Island,
where he often drew varied friends to snorkel with him among the colorful fish.
He kept there an assortment of well-worn tapes of his favorite music. On this
evening, following a salubrious meal, Martin proceeded to conduct the
Beethoven Ninth enthusiastically, in his shorts, from a folding chair in an
otherwise bare room.
Millie Seltzer felt that
to try to capture the essence of Martin Loeb in "fifty words or less" is the
equivalent of pinning down light, laughter, love, and life itself. He could be
extraordinarily outrageous, impossibly difficult, inordinately intelligent, and
downright irascible. He was outgoing and lonely, creative and lazy. When he
wanted to be, he could be a brilliant, incisive, and disciplined thinker. On the
other occasions he could be insensitive and thoughtless. He added romance
and drama to dull situations and excitement by just being around. He was, in
other words, a fully human being whom many of us loved and will always miss.
Vivian Wood completed Martin's contribution to this volume when
he was unable to do so. She said:
As one who appreciates humor in others, it will be Martin's sense of fun and
humor that I will remember most affectionately from my years of colleagueship
with him. As his friends know, Martin lived life fully. I doubt that there were
many things he wanted to do that he never got around to doing. If there were
any regrets about things undone, missing the publication of this book might be
one. A zesty sense of humor and great conviviality were Loeb trademarks, and
it is especially appropriate that a book on humor and aging be dedicated to him.
Contributors
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
Edward F. Ansello (233), Center on Aging, Division of Human and
Community Resources, University of Maryland, College Park,
Maryland 20742
Nancy J. Bell (253), Department of Home and Family Life, Texas Tech
University, Lubbock, Texas 79409
Nancy Datan (161), Department of Human Development, University
of Wisconsin, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301-7001
James Duchon (139), Department of Psychology, Illinois Institute of
Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616
Neida S. Duffey (253), Personal Growth Services, 401 Louisiana
Street Southeast, Suite J, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108
William F. Fry, Jr. (81), Department of Psychiatry, School of Medi-
cine, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
Margaret Hellte Huyck (139), Department of Psychology, Illinois In-
stitute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616
Martin Loeb1 (279), School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Carol Ann Lorenz (199), Department of Fine Arts, Colgate University,
Hamilton, New York 13346
Kathleen A. McCluskey-Fawcett2 (53), Department of Psychology,
West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26505
1 Deceased.
2 Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan-
sas 66045.
xiii
xiv Contributors
Paul E. McGhee (27, 253), Department of Human Development and
Family Studies, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409
Lucille Nahemow (3, 265), Gerontology Center, West Virginia Univer-
sity, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506
Erclman B. Palmare (101), Duke University Medical Center, Durham,
North Carolina 27710
Dennis R. Papini (53), Department of Psychology, Southeast Missouri
State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701
Allen Raymon (265), 317 West 87th Street, Apartment 3B, New York,
New York 10024
Edwin Rosenberg3 (175), Department of Sociology, University of
Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, Pennsylvania 16701
Mildred M. Seltzer (121), Scripps Foundation Gerontology Center and
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Miami University,
Oxford, Ohio 45056
C.J. R. Simons (53), Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State
University, Fayetteville, Pennsylvania 17222
Kathleen Fox Tennant (245), School of Nursing, West Virginia Univer-
sity, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-6304
Christopher Vecsey (199), Department of Philosophy and Religion,
Colgate University, Hamilton, New York 13346
Deborah G. Ventis (223), Department of Psychology, College of Wil-
liam and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
Vivian Wood (279), School of Social Work, University of Wisconsin-
Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
3 Present address: Department of Sociology, La Roche College, Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania 15237.
Preface
Humor has great potential for the study of aging, although it is hard
to classify, difficult to categorize, and impossible to pin down. We can,
nevertheless, study the humor of and about the old and thus explore a
quality that is commonly assumed to be important for well-being
across the life span. We can search for agreement concerning what is
funny. We can document the fact that it changes over time, that it
differs by gender, by cohort, and by ethnic subgroup, as well as by
age. We can look at humor of the old and about the old and humor that
amuses the old.
Much of the literature in gerontology has been devoted either to
detailing the myriad problems of aging or to giving assurances that
aging can be fun. The former dominates professional journals, the
latter is mostly in the popular media. A popular psychological theory
known as object relations states that when an issue is too hot to han-
dle, people tend to exaggerate both the good and the bad elements,
splitting them off from one another (Guntrip, 1971). The exaggeration
represents an attempt to divide the issue into component parts that
can be dealt with. If we both love and hate a person, what are we to
do? There is no forthright action that can be taken. Americans are
action oriented; they want to do something. The exaggeration of both
the badness and the goodness is a kind of solution. However, because
the problem is solved by altering the perception of reality, the facts
keep intruding. Complexities of aging and of life keep reemerging.
Thus one is often more disconcerted than reassured by posters stating
XV
xvi Preface
brightly that "life begins at 40." Such an unbalanced position may
trigger cognitive dissonance. Humor is a mechanism that can relieve
the cognitive strain. Thus the poster stating, "Life may not begin at 40,
but it does not end there either," is much more satisfying. Because
humorous messages leave one free to get the point or not to get the
point, to comprehend at one level while denying at another, or even to
develop one's own delaying structure so that one misses the point
now but gets it later, humor serves many functions. Aging is an issue
that creates conflict in most of us. The popular humor of our time
shows some brutal confrontations with both the realities of aging and
the fact of denial. A case in point is the greeting card that reads,
"Happy 29th Birthday! Welcome to fantasy land!"
Gerontologists spend endless hours discussing alternate definitions
of aging only to conclude that it is relative. How much easier it is to
quote the proverb: "An old maid who gets married becomes a young
wife." How much more pleasant to tell about old Mr. Trabish:
Old Mr. Trabish, sitting near the pool in a Catskill resort, could not
help noticing the white-haired man at the next table. There he sat
with two beautiful sexy women as he had every day during the week,
drinking and laughing and eating. Every day he went off the high
diving board and swam seven lusty laps without stopping. And every
night he was in the nightclub, dancing with different women until the
wee hours.
After two weeks of observing this strenuous schedule, Mr. Trabish
leaned over and said, "Mister, it's amazing the condition you're in, the
way you live!"
"Thank you," said the white-haired man.
"Excuse me for asking, but how old are you?"
The white-haired man shrugged. "Twenty-seven." (Rosten, 1972)
Similarly, to express critical issues in geriatrics one can do no better
than the story of the doctor who examined the 83-year-old woman and
said, "Some things not even modern medicine can cure. . .. I can't
make you any younger, you know, my dear." "Who asked you to make
me younger?" replied the woman. "I want you to make me older."
Aging is a process that begins at birth and progresses throughout
one's life. This book deals with humor throughout the life span, al-
though primary attention is given to humor about and by the elderly.
The book contains theoretical and review material from infancy to old
age and includes empirical studies of death and dying in both our own
and other societies.
Preface xvii
The book is divided into four parts. In Part I theoretical models of
humor development across the life span are considered, and physio-
logical, psychological, and sociological processes are discussed. Part
II deals with ways of considering humor and aging from different
vantage points. They include (1) humor about people of different
ages, (2) humor for people of different ages, and (3) humor by people
of different ages. Part III deals with the grim subject of death and
dying and how it lends itself to humorous treatment in our own and
other societies. Part IV contains brief empirical reports. Since scien-
tific research in humor and aging is only beginning, it seems impor-
tant to discuss pilot work in hopes that others will follow. Finally, an
epilogue by Loeb and Wood presents a compelling theoretical ap-
proach.
LUCILLE NAHEMOW
REFERENCES
Guntrip, H. (1971). Psychoanalytic theory, therapy, and the self. New York: Basic.
Rosten, L. (1972). Treasury of Jewish quotations. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Acknowledgments
Many individuals made important contributions to the conception
of this volume, which grew out of the West Virginia University Geron-
tology Center Conference on Humor and Aging at the Coolfront Con-
ference Center in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. All who attended
the sessions were collaborators in the book, and we are grateful to
them all.
We thank the following members of the West Virginia University
community for their participation: Betty Maxwell and Rita Rendina of
the Gerontology Center; Donna Barre, Linda Holt, and Rosellen Ro-
sien of the Department of Psychology; Beverly Hummel of the Col-
lege of Agriculture and Forestry; Robert Waldman of the School of
Medicine; Joseph Gluck of Student Affairs; and William Collins, Vice
President for Academic Affairs. Their work and support were crucial
to the success of this endeavor.
Several other individuals who participated in the conference were
instrumental in generating ideas reflected in this volume. We particu-
larly thank Donna Polisar, David Guttman, Harvey Sterns, Rubin Gur,
Elias Cohen, Leonard Gottesman, Polly McConney, Maxine Ewers,
Dorothy J. Lyons, and Virginia Powers for their creativity and insight.
We thank Barbara Knight and Nancy Merrifield for editorial assis-
tance.
xix
