MENTAL WELL-BEING AND HUMOR STYLES

Video: MENTAL WELL-BEING AND HUMOR STYLES

Video: MENTAL WELL-BEING AND HUMOR STYLES
Video: The Five Ways to Wellbeing - boosting mental wellbeing 2024, May
MENTAL WELL-BEING AND HUMOR STYLES
MENTAL WELL-BEING AND HUMOR STYLES
Anonim

Mental well-being is associated not only with the presence of certain types of adaptive humor, but also with the absence of other, more harmful forms of humor. Thus, by default, it is important not to assume that humor is undeniably beneficial to mental well-being.

The first style of harmful humor is aggressive humor. This type of fun is based on the tendency to use humor to criticize or manipulate others, such as sarcasm, teasing, ridicule, ridicule, or demeaning humor, and the use of potentially offensive (racist or sexist) forms of humor. It also includes obsessive expressions of humor, even when socially inadequate. Many of us have known people who tend to use humor in these aggressive ways.

Another potentially harmful style - self-deprecating humor - involves the use of humor in order to gain the favor of others, attempts to entertain others by saying funny things to the detriment of one's own reputation, overly degrading humor and laughing along with others in response to ridicule or humiliation. It also includes the use of humor as a form of defensive denial to hide negative feelings or avoid constructive problem solving.

There are also styles of humor that can be positively correlated with psychological well-being; one is about using humor to develop positive interpersonal relationships, and the other is about using humor to cope with stress and regulate emotions.

The first is affiliation humor, which tends to say funny things, tell jokes, and use spontaneous witty banter to amuse others, establish relationships, and ease interpersonal tensions. It is essentially a non-hostile use of humor that promotes self-affirmation and helps support others, and possibly also enhances interpersonal cohesion.

A second useful style of humor - self-affirming humor - is associated with a tendency to often joke about the inappropriateness of life, treat everything with humor even in stressful or adversity situations, and use humor as a regulatory mechanism.

The importance of humor for coping with abuse was also emphasized by survivors of the concentration camps. Recalling his experiences when he was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, Viktor Frankl described humor as "another psychic weapon in the struggle for self-preservation." Recognizing the importance of humor in maintaining morale, he and his companions agreed to tell each other funny stories every day. One of the favorite forms of humor included jokes about how the experience of being in prison might affect them after they were released. For example, one prisoner joked that in the future, at dinner parties, they might forget and ask the hostess to scoop up the soup from the bottom of the pan so that they get the vegetables, and not the watery broth on top. Their jokes made them feel superior to the people who had captured them.

These ways of using humor are also depicted in Roberto Benigni's 1997 film Life Is Beautiful. In this film, a Jewish father does funny eccentric acts to shield his son from the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, denying reality and pretending that the Holocaust is it is just a game in which the winner gets the right to ride the tank.

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