title: The emotional effects of violations of causality, or How to make a square amusing.
abstract: In Michotte's launching paradigm a square moves up to and makes contact with another square, which then moves off more slowly. In the triggering effect, the second square moves much faster than the first, eliciting an amusing impression. We generated 13 experimental displays in which there was always incongruity between cause and effect. We hypothesized that the comic impression would be stronger when objects are perceived as living agents and weaker when objects are perceived as mechanically non-animated. General findings support our hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Verona, Via San Francesco 12, 35100 Verona, Italy; e-mail:  daniela.bressanelli@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bressanelli
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parovel
keywords: animacy; causality; comic perception