‘Yo mama’ Jokes as a Metric of Psychosexual Development

Abstract: While Freud’s theory of psychosexual development is the prevailing one, even a cursory glance at various ‘yo mama’ jokes allows us to gain insight into the psyche of the author of the joke. Every ‘yo mama’ joke conveys major, recognizable themes that are connected to every stage of psychosexual development. In this paper we will try to explain why one of the most popular types of jokes can be used to extrapolate a person's level of maturity.