Freud links these characteristics to psychodynamics and his understanding of the unconscious mind while reconciling new theoretic insights with his 1899 book The Interpretation of Dreams.

Most notably, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero formulated early theories on the function of humor and laughter and paved the way for further philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes (17th century) to expand their positions.

Jokes and Its Relation to the Unconscious similarly advances Freud's theoretical basis and introduces an development "von der Nachtseite der Träume auf die seelische Wachexistenz", meaning "from the night side of dreams to the waking existence of the soul", according to Peter-André Alt.

It is hypothesized that within this discourse Fließ provoked the establishment of the book by criticizing Freud's theoretical basis of The Interpretation of Dreams.

[14] Due to this critique, Freud strongly connected his theoretical knowledge of dreams with the term "Witzarbeit", translating to jokework within the first part of his book.

Freud works out condensation (for example in the contraction of words, when ‘familiär’ and ‘millionaire’ are combined to form ‘famillionär’), as a central techniques of jokes.

The part telling the joke needs to exert psychic energy that the recipient gains from removing the inhibition or obstacle.

This allows individuals to revert to a childlike psychic state where reality's constraints are minimal, as evidenced by the fact that children do not engage in joke creation.

The euphoria aimed for through these mechanisms mirrors the carefree mental state of childhood, a time when people did not need humor or wit to feel happy.

[26] The book was published in 1905 in Austria and Germany and translated into English in 1960 by James Strachey, intended to reach a bigger audience.

Scholars recognized Freud's contribution to understanding cognitive and emotional dimensions of humor and leveraged the theoretical basis for further scientific inquiry.

During the same year, George W. Kelling derived four hypothesis from Freud's elaboration, which he tested empirically using comics with varying content.

In this research, Freud's theory was able to explain the findings presented within this investigation, constituting an empirical basis for the claims made within the literature.

[34][35] Psychologist Herbert Lefcourt used elements of freed inhibition, most notably relief, within his theory on humor in stress and coping mechanisms.