Coping Mechanism

Coping

Coping may be described as an effort by the individual to adapt to threatening or difficult situations called stressors. Stressors (e.g., the sudden encounter with a fast driving car or a roaring bear) may invoke the so-called stress response, which is accompanied by bodily responses preparing an individual to deal actively with or move away from the stressor (the fight-or-flight response). Basically the stress response is an adaptive response aimed at the survival of the individual, which is especially useful when quick action as a response to possibly life-threatening or injuring stressors is required. However, the stressors in modern society are usually not so physical anymore; they are more of a psychological or social nature, the loss of home keys, an argument with a partner, or the loss of face at work, for example. These stressors do invoke a stress response, which is usually not needed to physically survive. However, because of the anxiety, anger, or shame the individual feels during the stress response, it is usually considered an unpleasant state. It is this unpleasant state or emotion that individuals are motivated to avoid or reduce; this is why James J. Gross (2002) calls this process emotion regulation. Coping responses, including humorous coping, try to achieve just that.

Humorous Coping

Humorous coping may be defined as the active use of humorous behaviors or thoughts to adapt to stressors in order to avoid or reduce the unpleasant states or emotions accompanying them. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) offered one of the first conceptions of humorous coping. He considered humor as one of the more mature defense mechanisms of which humans are capable. Contrary to other forms of coping, humorous coping is not only aimed at stress prevention or stress reduction, but also at the induction of a pleasant state involving mirth or laughter. How does the individual accomplish this? Basically, there are two ways to apply humor to a stressful situation: a reductive and a preventive way. The reductive way of humor application is aimed at a decrease of unpleasant states (i.e., stress) that the individual already experiences as the consequence of a stressor. Because it is aimed at reducing the emotional response following a stressful situation, this type of humorous coping is called response-focused humorous coping. An example of this type of coping response is making a joke after one has lost face in a meeting. The other way is the preventive way, which is aimed at the prevention of unpleasant emotions that might occur as a result of certain stressors. This is what we would call antecedent-focused humorous coping. An example of this type of coping is when a car driver takes an illegal shortcut, blocking your way temporarily and winks at you to soften your angry response. The difference between these two types of humorous coping is the phase of the stress response in which they are applied. Antecedent-focused humorous coping is used in an early phase of the stress response and is aimed at the prevention of stress; response-focused humorous coping is used in a later phase of the stress response, when unpleasant states have already been evoked. Theoretically it may be expected that antecedent-focused humorous coping is more beneficial to our well-being than response-focused humorous coping. This is because in the latter type stress has already been experienced and cannot be prevented anymore. Although stress as such is adaptive and not harmful, chronic stress may result in damage to our psychological or physical well-being. Therefore, antecedent-focused humorous coping may contribute positively to our well-being. Both humorous cognitions and humorous [Page 180]behaviors may have the comforting effect at which all coping responses are aimed.

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