How To Develop A Sense Of Humor And Wit - Self-development

Laughter is an undeniable social value. The ability to be funny has been valued since ancient times. It was not for nothing that all the rulers (and after them, and simply noble people) necessarily had a regular jester at court. Not a single holiday was complete without the invitation of comic genre artists (clowns, buffoons). Why do we need laughter? Just for the sake of being funny?

To the place and to the time

Of course, laughter gives us a lot of pleasant things: we feel an energetic rise, our breathing becomes more frequent and deeper, blood flow increases (especially superficial, capillary), which makes us feel pleasantly warm. When we laugh, the body strains, but not very much, and this is a very useful shake-up, "training" for many functional systems of the body. And after this tension, a state of pleasant relaxation arises, which reduces the overall level of stress. Thus, laughter is an excellent healing agent for both body and soul.

From a social point of view, laughter is one of the pro-social emotions that unites and brings people together. Laughter is a way to overcome collective fears, a means to reassess the negative aspects of life

Laughter acts like an upside-down spyglass, downplaying all kinds of troubles and giving us confidence that we can handle them well. Fear paralyzes, while laughter liberates, allowing you to "turn on" resourcefulness and actualize a creative approach to overcoming any difficulties.

It is important to understand that laughter is not appropriate in every situation. Usually it is regulated by social norms that we learn from childhood and which tell us when it is acceptable to be cheerful, and in which not so. The role of the jester allows for violation of these norms, but not often and in some situations. For example, a jester could parody the king at a feast, but if he tried to do this during military negotiations, his head would simply be cut off.

In parentheses, we note that the line of what is permitted in humor is rarely precisely delineated. Therefore, the position of a jester in ancient society has always been associated with mortal risk, for an unsuccessful joke you could pay with your head. Today, the situation has not changed much - by publishing a cartoon or anecdote on a religious theme, journalists may receive a bloody response from armed fundamentalists.

Comic constructor

Can a sense of humor be developed? I am afraid that no one can give an exact answer to this question. Humanity has been studying the laws and techniques of the comic since the time of Aristotle, but it is one thing to understand “how it works”, and quite another to be able to apply it in practice. For example, Aristotle gave (in "Ethics") the following definition of laughter: "The funny is some mistake and disgrace, but painless and does not bring suffering to anyone." Let's clarify that Aristotle understood "ugliness" as a kind of distortion, violation of order and logic, absurdity.

Now, based on this definition, let's try to stage a funny situation. Imagine that you are the director of a silent film at the very dawn of its creation. A typical gag there could look like this: a person walks, stumbles, falls. Is it funny? Somehow not very, this may well happen to anyone. Now let's add some kind of "error" to the situation. For example, a person stumbles and falls not once, but four times in a row. And he does it, say, slipping on the same banana peel. So, it seems already funnier …

To enhance the effect of the "mistake", let us choose someone for the role of the falling person who, it seems, cannot and should not fall. But at the same time, do not forget about "painlessness and absence of suffering." This means that the falling character should not cause us pity and sympathy. A fragile woman or child is not suitable for this role, but some man of massive physique, and even important, "on duty" - say, a policeman - why not? He walks so solid and monumental, and suddenly he flops several times in a row.

To further eliminate the feeling of pity, you can make the police officer "angry." For example, he just drove Charlie, such a cute and harmless tramp, from the shop. It seems like it's already funnier, but you can try to enhance the comic effect by adding some absurdities, "ugliness" to the situation. For example, you can exaggerate any detail of this policeman's clothing - make him too big a cap or hang him in front and behind with an incredible number of medals. The fall itself can be made strange too. For example, a police officer can show miracles of resourcefulness, trying to maintain balance, grabbing onto everything around him and performing ballet pirouettes with his feet.

As a result, we got a funny scene, typical for the cinema of the early XX century. It is clear that for the modern viewer this is no longer very funny, but it is important for us to illustrate the "engineering of the comic" and understand that the sense of humor is not only a "gift from God", but also quite specific skills and techniques for constructing the funny, which are available for every person to master. …

Mind won't hurt

The above example is based on non-verbal humor (clowning). Verbal humor (for example, in today's popular stand-up genre) is more difficult, but there are techniques that we intuitively use from childhood. For example, jokes based on puns, sound similarities. Let me give you an example from my personal life. I was drafted into the army from the first year of the psychology department. One of the officers, learning about this, gave birth to such a pun: “Well, is this a psychologist? It's still Pepsi-Cola! " Not so much a masterpiece, but against the background of the rest of the army humor it's quite good …

Laughter can be elicited with fairly primitive techniques, but in fact, a sense of humor is one of the deepest intellectual emotions. A keen observation, the ability to notice paradoxes, to “connect the unconnected”, to notice the differences between the expected and the actual state of affairs, lies at the heart of the “feeling of funny”. Humor is always tied to the context, to a specific life situation (place and time, participants, their level of culture and education, etc.). Simply put, what is funny for Lieutenant Rzhevsky does not necessarily amuse noble girls, and even more so their parents. Therefore, the author of any jokes must have a highly developed social intelligence, otherwise his humor will either simply not be understood or seem vulgar and stupid.

We start with ourselves

If you still have a burning desire to "pump" your sense of humor, then I want to offer super advice: start laughing at yourself. This will require you to mobilize all your strengths and abilities: observation, "sense of the situation", intelligence. It is especially important to learn to react with humor (not with criticism or aggression!) To some setbacks and difficulties in life. Keep in mind that humor can be a form of disguised aggression. For example, when we make fun of ourselves, belittling our best sides; it is a critically destructive "banter" that lowers our self-esteem, beats our self-respect.

The correct humor in relation to yourself is light, kind, from a position of acceptance and forgiveness. This is self-directed irony that builds self-confidence, makes you stronger. Laughing at oneself relieves stress, helps to maintain optimism and to be cheerful even in objectively difficult situations

A good joke on yourself either paradoxically exaggerates the problem, bringing it to the point of absurdity (and realizing that "it's actually not that scary, I can handle it"), or downplays it, making you laugh at the insignificance of your own fears and doubts.

Last but not least, when you get the feeling that jokes about yourself are successful, try sharing them with others. And if you hear laughter in response, congratulations, your sense of humor is quite well developed! All that remains is to use it regularly, so that it does not “rust”, and not forgetting about Aristotle's precept of painlessness, because humor can also be a weapon.