The Colors of Comedy
Everybody laughs. But while comedy is a universal constant among humans, its nuances are less well-known. This Humor Month, let’s explore the different styles of humor:
Affiliative - This is the most standard kind of humor. In this style, comedy is used to enhance conversation and improve social relationships with others. It includes regular jokes and funny stories that are not negative.
Self-Enhancing - A type of humor characterized by finding the good in a bad situation, or being able to maintain a positive outlook even through adversity. Unsurprisingly, it is highly correlated with optimism.
Aggressive - Humor designed to criticize or belittle others. This includes sarcasm, teasing, and ridicule. However, it’s not all bad. Satire is a genre of aggressive humor that focuses on using humor to expose the problems in flawed institutions and provide an impetus for improvement.
Self-Defeating - As evidenced by the name, this is a style of humor where the joke is at the individual’s expense. Stories where the punchline makes you the butt of the joke are this type of humor. Some theorize that it is a defense-mechanism to cope with negative feelings about the self. While it’s a good exercise in humility to laugh at oneself, it’s generally not a good idea to become too self-deprecating.