Psychology Of Humor

Humor is present in one form or another in the life of any person, team, country, nation, regardless of the political situation and living conditions. In our difficult democratic time, characterized primarily by freedom of speech, there is a noticeably increased attention to satire and humor as a means of communication between people.

The abundance of humorous TV-programs, the popularity of a large number of satirical writers and film comedies can serve as confirmation. Humor is serious.

Not a single periodical is complete without an element of the comic - an anecdote or a caricature. A sign of "our time" is the abundance of advertising, which often uses humor as a means of influence. On the other hand, there is less and less laughter. The humor is losing its sharpness.

Permissiveness removes the halo of prohibition and holiness from many social topics. Let's try to answer specific questions: what is the social purpose of the comic, what functions does humor take on in the regulation of human relationships, why does a person need laughter? One possible short answer might be: humor is required to evoke emotions. But which emotions and why is it so necessary?

Is it only the positive, led by joy, and is it only for entertainment? Let's think about why does a person need emotions at all? Psychology claims that emotions form the main motivational system of a person. This means that emotions determine our behavior and are able to change it. What can humor change? The main purpose of something comical is fun, of course, bringing joy, the birth of laughter. But there are other equally significant and interesting moments.

Humor can be: a weapon, a means of attack (mockery); a means of establishing contact and transmitting information (joke, humoresque, feuilleton); an educator seeking to convey to the perceiving subject 'eternal truths', moral norms (proverbs, sayings); a kind of shield, behind which you can hide your attitude, opinion, state in cases where it is necessary (an anecdote, a pun). All of these humor-induced states can be accompanied by different types of laughter. And as a result, all this promotes a change in the behavior of the individual.

There are many types of laughter. The theorist and historian of Soviet comedy film R. Yurenev writes the following: “Laughter can be joyful and sad, kind and angry, smart and silly, proud and sincere, condescending and ingratiating, contemptuous and frightened, insulting and encouraging, arrogant and timid, friendly and hostile, ironic and simple-hearted, sarcastic and naive, affectionate and rude, meaningful and unreasonable, triumphant and justifying, shameless and embarrassed. You can still increase this list: cheerful, sad, nervous, hysterical, mocking, physiological, animal laughter. There may be even a sad laugh.

Does everyone laugh the same way? The laughter of a laughing person is the 'mirror' of his soul... By how, when, what each of us laughs at, you can learn something about the 'internal structure' of a person. You can laugh so that everyone who is nearby will laugh, or you can bring them to tears and aggression with a slight smile. Humor is a delicate, dangerous and ... beautiful thing! With skillful use, it can highlight all the sparkling facets of any personality.

The next controversial question worthy of discussion is: is laughter only a human phenomenon? Do animals or, for example, representatives of other civilizations laugh?

Other planets are still far away, but one can speculate about the higher animals... Undoubtedly, all the basic emotional states are 'accessible' to them. Many people will agree that 'the sad eyes of a dog', 'the naughtiness and merriment of a kitten', 'feeling of fear and even guilt of a cat who ate sour cream' is not a 'transfer' of the human to recognize the state of the animal. It is an objective manifestation of 'non-verbal' behavior, ie. external manifestation of emotions with the help of postures, gestures, facial expressions. So, for example, joy is a common basic emotion for animals and humans. And it may well manifest itself somehow similarly. 'Smile on the face of a cat', is it visible? Yes! And not only on the face...

Probably, it can be argued that the elements of laughter in some simplified form are also manifested in animals, at least in those who live with a person for a long time (it is much more difficult to observe wild animals). It is necessary to recall the distinction between the concepts of 'funny' and 'comic'. Comic - of course, is the concept of social - i.e. associated with human society. Terms such as irony, sarcasm, etc. should not be used to describe the manifestations of emotions in animals. But the opinion of zoopsychologists on this issue is very interesting. Does one laugh when alone? Is A. Bergson right when he says that "it's not funny when the person is alone"?

And if a person, being one on one with himself, made an awkward movement out of absent-mindedness, noticed this and ... laughed? Can't each of us remember such incidents from our lives? Or is it a secondary 'reflection'? A person simply imagines how he would look from the side, how people would laugh if they saw him at that moment?

Then A. Bergson is right. Maybe in some circumstances involuntary laughter is a psychological defense, similar to 'forgetting the unpleasant' or 'aggression in case of powerlessness or fear'? This is probably what S. Freud had in mind when he spoke of the 'saving' of psychic energy at the expense of wit. Rather than wasting mental strength on hiding a grudge, it’s better to laugh at yourself, directing the saved energy to other things. The emotional aspect of the comic comes into contact with such a concept as a sense of humor, which occupies one of the main places in the list of human social feelings, along with a sense of duty, justice, etc.

A. Maslow included the possession of a sense of humor in the list of characteristic features of a self-actualizing (highly developed) personality. N.A. Look, for example, distinguishes between the concepts of 'sense of humor' and 'wit'. One and the same person, in his opinion, can have a sense of humor and not be witty, but it happens the other way around - a lively and successful wit is completely devoid of a sense of humor. A sense of humor usually manifests itself in the ability to find a funny line in situations where, it would seem, there is nothing funny.

The hallmark of a sense of humor is the ability to laugh at oneself. What is the world laughing at today? What topics attract the attention of comedians? The 'eternal' topics include the following: man and woman, health, family, parenting. New topics for recent years are advertising, ecology and UFOs, religion, popular TV shows, unemployment problems. Why do we make fun of ourselves and each other? Because we want to be better! Laughter in its purest form, laughter as a standard is a joyful, cheerful laughter, a characteristic feature and an eternal companion of the comic.

Joy, and therefore laughter, has its clear advantages:
• 1. It increases a person's ability to know and appreciate the world.
• 2. A happy (laughing) person is much more able to see beauty and goodness in nature and in human life.
• 3. Laughter makes a person feel that there are various connections between him and the world.
• 4. Laughter is associated with an energy boost.
• 5. Laughter gives the feeling that a person is more than he is in his usual state. Humor is ... very serious!