Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

One of Freud’s most famous works, this 1905 study on the psychology of humor claims that comedy fills a subconscious desire to brush away inhibitions and feel pleasure. Here, Freud considers: the joke (or “wit”) as a defense mechanism; dirty jokes; ethnic humor; the joke as a way to express suppressed thoughts and feelings; and the interplay between the id, ego, and superego in generating humor.