Humor Styles

Styles of Everyday Humorous Conduct

The styles of humorous conduct proposed by Kenneth Craik and his colleagues encompass five bipolar styles that supposedly cover the whole range of possible humorous behaviors and attitudes. They distinguish (1) a socially warm versus cold humorous style, describing a socially constructive use of humor in contrast to a tendency to avoid joyful behavior at all; (2) a reflective versus boorish humorous style, which refers to a habit of apprehending and appreciating the humorous side in situations and other people versus a rather competitive, inconsiderate, and pretentious use of humor; (3) a competent versus inept humorous style that describes whether a person is or is not able to tell jokes and anecdotes successfully and be actively witty; (4) an earthy versus repressed humorous style, which depicts joy in telling jokes about taboo topics such as sexual, macabre, or bathroom jokes versus an inhibition toward and rejection of these topics; and (5) a benign versus mean-spirited humorous style that reflects a person's delight in wordplay or otherwise intellectually challenging but harmless jokes, in contrast to scornful or even cruel humor style.

Positive and Negative Humor Styles

Rod Martin and his colleagues proposed a categorization of four humor styles, two of which are thought to be positive and beneficial to oneself or others and two of which are negative and detrimental to oneself or others. People who engage in an (1) affiliative humor style use humor to enhance and ease social relationships. This humor is characterized by being essentially tolerant and benign; it may include gentle teasing or self-deprecating humor and is used to amuse others or relax a tense situation. Also on the positive side, (2) self-enhancing humor describes a style in which an individual maintains a humorous point of view on life and its incongruities. It is the tendency to appreciate the funny aspects of things and is closely related to the use of humor to cope with stressors and regulate negative emotions. On the negative side, people who engage in (3) aggressive humor tend to be sarcastic and ridicule other people without minding its offensive potential. They may try to use humor as a means of manipulation. (4) Self-defeating humor is a humor style directed against oneself. Individuals belittle and put themselves down by humor in order to get others' recognition. Self-defeating humor may be driven by a general low self-esteem.

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