2006/01/01 by Paul Rozin, Alexander Rozin, Brian Appel +1 · 1 citation
Psychology · Neuroscience · #Humor Studies and Applications #Aesthetic Perception and Analysis #Neuroscience and Music Perception #Continuance #Psychology #Musical #Sample (material) #Variety (cybernetics) #Event (particle physics) #Cognitive psychology #Social psychology #Computer science #Artificial intelligence #Art #Visual arts
paper · doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.3.349
openalex publication_date 2006/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08
The AAB pattern consists of two similar events followed by a third dissimilar event. The prevalence of this pattern in the aesthetic domain may be explained as violation of expectation: A minimum of two iterations is required to establish a repetitive pattern; once established, it is most efficient to promptly violate the expected continuance of the pattern to produce the maximal aesthetic effect. We demonstrate the prevalence of this pattern (in comparison to AB or AAAB) in a representative sample of a variety of musical genres and in a representative sample of repetitive genre of jokes. We also provide experimental evidence that the AAB pattern in jokes is maximally effective in producing a humor response in participants.