Concept · Cognitive Bias: Memory biases and distortions
Humor effect
Origin: Schmidt, 1994
Biological Parallel
Bonobos remember playful groupmates better than aggressive ones—humor and play signal safe social bonds, triggering dopamine that stamps memories as 'valuable relationship.' Laughter activates reward circuits, emotional tagging systems, and social cognition networks simultaneously. The humor effect is alliance prediction: your brain prioritizes remembering who makes you laugh because positive social bonds predicted survival better than neutral interactions.