Types of Humor
There are many different ways or forms of expressing humor. When I initially started researching “types of humor,” I expected a sort of singular, organized, universal list. However, that is not the case. Humor can be categorized in a myriad of ways, three of which I will be sharing from what I’ve found so far.
Conversational Types of Humor
According to Rod A. Martin in The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach, conversational humor can be categorized into jokes (short stories that are preplanned and memorized), spontaneous conversational humor (intentionally created during social interaction), and accidental humor (pretty self explanatory). While I won’t go too much into detail, here’s a quick rundown of these humor types:
Jokes- contain a set up and punch line, the punchline usually serving as a sudden shift in meaning to incite a humorous response.
Spontaneous Conversational Humor- comes in the form of anecdotes, wordplay, or irony, but there are further classifications such as satire, sarcasm, overstatement and understatement, self-deprecation, etc.
Accidental Humor- can be classified as either physical (slipping on a banana peel) or linguistic (errors in speech, misspellings, Freudian slips, spoonerisms, etc).
2. The Four Humor Types
In this method of categorization, there are four types of humor; self defeating, affiliative, self enhancing, and aggressive. Here I have listed some examples to better understand their meanings:
Self-defeating: “If each of my admirers were a strand of hair, I would be bald.”
Affiliative: “If each of your admirers were a strand of hair, you would need two heads.”
Self-enhancing: “If each of my admirers were a strand of hair, I would need two heads.”
Aggressive: “If each of your admirers were a strand of hair, you would be bald.”
Different cultures possess different attitudes towards humor, which can influence the types of humor most used. For example, China tends to view humor as a special talent, but not desirable nor common as a trait for ordinary people. In fact, there generally seems to be a divide in Eastern versus Western humor. Eastern countries like China tend to use more adaptive humor (self enhancing and affiliative) because they value collectivism. Meanwhile, Western countries like the U.S. tend to use more maladaptive humor (self-defeating and aggressive), because they value individualism and independence. However, it doesn’t mean that all Eastern countries use more adaptive humor and vice versa. Cultural attitudes around humor do not purely depend on location, and have many more complex factors that come into play.
3. Fowler’s Typology
According to H. W. Fowler, each type of humor has its own purpose, a certain topic (province) it covers, method used, and a specific audience. Keep in mind that the chart I have included below is from a source that claims Fowler’s Typology is incomplete (in need of more nuance on gentle types of humor), hence the additions. Make of it what you will!
What classifications of humor are your favorite? Which types of humor do you or your loved ones use the most? What I personally like about these different methods of categorization is that when combined, they can paint a picture of who people are. People love to label themselves, affirm their positive traits, and feel a sense of belonging through identity. I feel as if these countless definitions express the eternal human want for knowledge, to understand not only everything around us, but ourselves as well. We want validation, something to connect ourselves to. So, how do you make people laugh? Who are you?
Sources:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00123/full
https://www3.dbu.edu/mitchell/basiccom.htm
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6199304/
The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach by Rod A. Martin
