Humor
Over the course of human history, humor has existed. It originated from our species, proving to be one of the core characteristics of us. But why has humor become one of our defining qualities? Why has it remained so prevalent among the duration of humanity’s existed? One possible explanation for laughter, a part of humor, is that it shows the lightheartedness of a situation.
During an encounter between two people, an event may occur that signals for a buildup in tension. Once there is laughter, “the laughing person is announcing his discovery that there has been a false alarm; that the rest of the community need not waste its precious resources responding to the spurious anomaly” (Science Direct).
But what is the origin of humor? According to Science Direct, “Humor comes when we see and understand the subject as he reacts to the changed situation. That is, the actual source of amusement is our observation of the resolution in the mind of the subject of the collision between old perception and new reality.” Humor is how we view the situation in which laughter was caused. It has since grown into being something that laughter would arise from.
So, humor is one of the most popular things in society; it is in our lives every single day; some examples might be that funny tweet you might have read in the morning, that joke you heard someone else say, or that sarcastic comment you heard someone make. But these are only a few of the countless examples of humor we encounter daily; it ranges from positive to negative.
Despite being so concrete in the modern world, humor is debated about by some. According to The Conversation, “psychologists framed humor negatively, suggesting it demonstrated superiority, vulgarity, Freudian id conflict or a defense mechanism to hide one’s true feelings.” Other psychologists have done research on humor and found that it is a character strength, helping to make others feel good, relieve stress and tension, and help gain intimacy.
Well, what's the point of knowing the effects of humor? Well, to put it in the words of The Conversation, humor is "serious and relevant to the science of behavior." This means that studying it and knowing its consequences would be of use. So, the question of whether humor is beneficial or not is important.
So which is it? Is humor beneficial, as some say? Is it harmful, as others believe? Or is it neither, not able to be defined so binarily? By continuing, you will read three perspectives on this issue. Hope you enjoy!