Why does a person need to be funny? This question can be answered in different ways. But, one way or another, any of the answers will lead us to the fact that humor is important in any area of our lives, and is also highly valued by others. If a person has a sense of humor and wit, life is much easier for him than for someone who does not.
People with a poorly developed sense of humor are often rational and straightforward, which is why they often have difficulties with social adaptation and communication. For such people, even minor troubles end in stress. But if there is a sense of humor, then psychological defense mechanisms perform their functions much more effectively. Agree: how nice it would be if we could always easily perceive what is happening and find something funny in any situation? This is one of the reasons why many people want to develop a sense of humor.
But the benefit is not only that people who know how to laugh in the broad sense of the word perceive even the most difficult life situations much more calmly, but also that they establish contact with other people faster and easier. And this can be called the second, but no less important reason. Who do you think is easier to communicate with: a shy, insecure and timid guy or someone who knows how to make funny jokes in a company, laugh at themselves, amuse them, and attract the attention of the opposite sex with a cool joke? In our opinion, the answer is obvious.
The benefits of a developed sense of humor can be listed for a very long time, but we think that the two discussed are quite enough to draw certain conclusions, although we will talk about the benefits of humor later. In the meantime, let's think: is it even possible to develop a sense of humor and wit? Does a person who has never been able to joke or was generally characterized by gloom and lack of cheerfulness have a chance to change and let positivity into their consciousness? We have bad news for you - this won't happen overnight. But we also have good news - if you want, you can do this, and you don’t have to move mountains!
Of course, there is no doubt that a sense of humor is transmitted in genes. However, this is not at all a reason to give up on yourself if your ancestor was not Mikhail Zadornov or Charlie Chaplin. After a person is born, the development of a sense of humor already depends on the characteristics of the environment where he grows up, the subtleties of upbringing and other conditions. But we do not set ourselves the task of getting into the very jungle of influences that reality has on human consciousness.
We want to say that anyone at almost any age can develop a sense of humor and learn to be funny. All that is required for this is to learn the basic laws of the comic as such, and study practical information, including techniques, methods and methods for developing a sense of humor. And this information is right in front of you - in the course, the introduction to which you are now reading.
Our online course on developing a sense of humor consists of six lessons with a lot of theoretical and practical information, interesting examples and exercises, available for practical use from the first minutes of study. Plus, we have selected many examples of jokes, which will allow you to clearly see how to joke in general, what you should take into account and what you should pay attention to on your way to mastering the skill of a comedian. So don't waste your time and keep reading.
What is a sense of humor
A sense of humor
call a psychological feature of a person, which consists in identifying all kinds of contradictions in the surrounding world and their subsequent assessment from a comic point of view. It begins to manifest itself and develop already in early childhood under the influence of the environment, comic manifestations of other people, funny situations and other prerequisites. If there are no such prerequisites, a person develops a straightforward character, which can lead to many social and psychological difficulties.
Thus, we can conclude that a sense of humor allows a person to:
- It is easier to cope with difficulties, problems and difficult life circumstances
- Find common language with others faster
- Find like-minded people in society
- Don't be too serious
Interestingly, entire studies are devoted to the sense of humor. In many of them, scientists tried to measure the sense of humor of different people, and also relate it to other personality characteristics.
Assessments have been made (and continue to be made) from the perspective of psychology, sociology, linguistics, anthropology and other scientific disciplines. And among hundreds of theories of humor, there are those that say that the task of a sense of humor is to relieve tension and stress, as well as encourage the search for new interpretations of life situations. Based on these theories, all jokes are accompanied by increasing attention as they are presented and a subsequent release when the joke ends. The reason for the emergence of new interpretations is that jokes entail unexpected associations of unrelated and even conflicting circumstances.
There are also theories in which humor serves as a means of defusing aggression and negative emotions. Although in certain circles, for example, among military personnel, doctors, officials, criminals, etc. has its own, special humor, from which it follows that the sense of humor is to one degree or another subjective.
In general, a sense of humor should be understood as the ability to see the funny in situations, people, environments, stories, etc. The protective function of humor is highlighted by almost all researchers.
But let’s summarize: one of the authoritative researchers of humor, Bogdan Dzemidok, in his work “On the Comic,” focusing on the social role of humor, defines several of its main functions:
| ✔ | Cognitive function. Humor is interpreted as a means of understanding the world and mastering ideas about it. Humor, which is considered to have the greatest educational value, shows reality in its true light, without deforming its phenomena or trying to modify it. The cognitive component of humor deepens a person’s knowledge about the world and other people, teaches them to identify differences between the content of phenomena and their form, and also warns against hasty conclusions. |
| ✔ | Entertainment function. Everything is simple here - humor has the ability to lift your spirits and cause laughter and positive emotions. |
| ✔ | Therapeutic function. It consists in the ability of humor to be a consolation for a person in his personal disappointments and failures. Self-irony is a form of protection both from outside influence and from oneself, i.e. from your own pessimism, despondency, fears, doubts, etc. |
But it would not be superfluous to say about one more function of humor, which the famous German poet and playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing once spoke about:
| ✔ | Educational function. Healthy humor serves as a measure of moral development, and therefore through it one can instruct, teach and educate children. |
All this is just basic information about the sense of humor, and if you go into this topic in more detail, you can collect a large amount of data looking at it from all sides and angles. If you are interested in this topic, the Internet and libraries with dozens of encyclopedias are at your service. We will continue the conversation about the practical side of using a sense of humor.
Sagittarius
Representatives of this sign love to tell funny stories to friends, and they do it very talentedly, embellishing many details. From their lips, even the most ordinary situation can seem like a real comedy. Sagittarius can be safely called the life of the party, because they can tirelessly tell jokes and also come up with funny stories about friends. Most of all, they like jokes that can surprise everyone and improve their mood.
A sense of humor in practice
After all that has been said above, you probably will not argue with the fact that a sense of humor is one of the most important qualities that a person should have. But it still makes sense to say a few more words about its practical application.
First of all, I would like to point out that it allows you to very quickly win over your interlocutor, and it doesn’t matter: it’s a girl or guy you like, a potential business partner, a work colleague, or a simple plumber who disgruntledly came into the house to change the toilet.
A person who can skillfully and colorfully joke will always be distinguished by his wit and attract attention, start a company, and bring a positive attitude to society. Among other things, a sense of humor can also be attributed to the qualities of a leader and someone who will often, if not always, be listened to and his opinion taken into account.
But having a sense of humor means not only being able to joke and make witticisms, but also understanding the humor of other people, being receptive to jokes directed at oneself, having the ability to behave comically, fend off caustic remarks and save face in any tricky situation. It is also advisable to have the skill of expressing humor in writing and even in drawings - these are tangible bonuses for those who have a good tongue.
A practical sense of humor is also the ability to distinguish one form of the comic from another. For example, can you distinguish irony from sarcasm, jokes from banter, stand-up comedy from miniatures? An experienced comedian is familiar with many comic forms, genres and techniques.
As a result, in order to safely consider yourself a witty person with a good sense of humor, you need to have a number of certain qualities, namely: quick reaction, developed thinking (by the way, look here), an ironic attitude and a positive perception of the environment, self-confidence. For some, a sense of humor is a gift, but for people who work on themselves, it is just another skill that they are able to master. But this needs to be done not anyhow, not spontaneously, not chaotically, but regularly, consciously and systematically. If you have firmly decided for yourself that you want to learn how to joke and improve the quality of your sense of humor, then you are on the right path - we will tell you about everything you need to do.
Principles of Wit
The aesthetic pleasure that a person receives from the ability to notice, perceive and understand comic moments is enormous. It carries a great healing effect. It’s not for nothing that they say that humor and laughter prolong life.
Wit is a complex concept. It includes at least three components:
attention to the environment;
the ability to notice “hot” moments;
the ability to respond to events in a timely manner.
Witty people are distinguished by high intellectual qualities, which include:
- emotional well-being;
- personal development.
The basic principle of wit is to do no harm. If not everyone in the company laughs at a joke, it means that someone’s feelings are hurt or the person simply “didn’t understand” the topic. Making fun of one of the masses is bad; it is more like sarcasm or black humor, which has nothing to do with wit.
What gives a person wit:
- The ability to cope with frightening life circumstances. Humor is a great defense mechanism.
- Improved overall well-being. Laughter, smile, laughter are psychophysiological reactions that are a response to a comical situation - something that makes a person laugh. Nobody teaches people to smile - it is an innate reflex that is a response to humor.
- Healthy nerves. Mental function determines the behavioral pattern - the pattern according to which a witty person acts. He often jokes, amusing others, laughs at himself and other people's stories, talks about funny incidents, and tells jokes. It’s quite difficult to piss off such people, to make them angry, because they turn everything into a joke.
- Psychotherapeutic function. Today, humor is included in many psychological practices, and the possibilities of using this psychosocial phenomenon in the treatment of cancer patients are being considered.
How to learn it
There is no doubt: the ability to develop a sense of humor and use it to benefit yourself and others does not come out of nowhere. Of course, some people are great at humor and entertaining others and themselves from an early age, because heredity is heredity. Such people, by the way, very often devote their lives to humor and become professional comedians, and they don’t have to learn to be funny (although even they hone their skills and improve their skills, as they say now). The rest need to work to “catch fish out of the pond”, try, study and develop. But there is no need to perceive this process as an impassable obstacle - you can learn everything, and on your own - if you have the desire.
As with any other topic, there are two sides to developing a sense of humor:
| 1 | Theoretical side - includes information of a theoretical nature required to create a basis for practice. |
| 2 | The practical side is the use of theoretical information in practical activities. |
The difficulty, however, often lies in the fact that many people, having mastered the theory, give up what they started halfway and never move on to practice. And the reason here lies not only in the individual characteristics of each person. The fact is that any training course, any training, any theoretical material should be created with a basis for subsequent practice. Otherwise, knowledge will simply gather dust on the shelves of memory, become covered with cobwebs, be pushed into far corners and will not bring any benefit.
Guided by this idea, we have developed the presented course on developing a sense of humor. We pursue two goals: the first is to provide you with high-quality material for reading and studying, and the second is to teach you how to use it in life. Therefore, each of the course lessons is distinguished by a two-way focus: they contain both theory, without which practice is simply impossible, and practice - tips, recommendations, exercises and techniques - tools for moving from words to deeds.
Virgo
Virgos can make fun of everything that happens around them, and they know how to do it so as not to offend anyone. Over time, they can use this to make those around them laugh. Representatives of this sign do not care what other people think about them. This behavior of Virgos helps them to more easily cope with any troubles in life. Even if they have a bad time, Virgos will find a way to smile and amuse their loved ones. No one will ever be bored with them.
Lessons in humor
We already have a lot of courses and trainings in our arsenal, and we have good experience in developing and compiling training methods. It has already become a tradition for the 4Brain team to conduct case studies, systematize the material, select the most important and interesting from a huge number of sources, adapt the received data for easy perception and quick application, and give it all a beautiful form. We did exactly the same thing now.
In the next six lessons, we will look at the most significant topics in our opinion regarding the development of a sense of humor, the most effective techniques, tips from professional comedians and easy-to-use exercises:
Lesson 1. Theories of humor and the nature of the comic
If there is a task to approach the development of a sense of humor competently and fully, it is imperative to learn about the nature of the comic, what theories of humor there are, how it is interpreted by researchers and scientists. Such knowledge forms a correct understanding of the funny and its adequate perception, and also serves as wonderful food for the mind.
In the first lesson we will tell you about the ideas of psychologists and philosophers such as Rod Martin, Thomas Hobbes, Théodule Ribot, Charles Gruner, Francois Rabelais and others. You will learn about the psychoanalytic theory of humor, the theory of arousal and comfort, the theory of superiority and humiliation, the theory of incongruity and other theories. In conclusion, we will briefly summarize the entire lesson material.
Lesson 2. Positive thinking as the basis of a sense of humor
It is difficult to call a person who is used to thinking in a negative way someone who has a good sense of humor. Due to the peculiarities of his perception, he is inclined to see in the events happening to him and the world around him mainly what causes fear, anger, resentment, hatred, a sense of injustice, etc. in him. All this suggests that the first step towards developing a sense of humor is the formation of positive thinking.
From the second lesson you will learn what the essence of positive thinking is and get acquainted with various techniques for its formation: substitution, elimination, power of thought, self-irony. We will also offer a set of practical recommendations and rules of positive thinking for every day.
Lesson 3. Types and techniques of comic
Anyone can tell a couple of jokes. However, a true humorist is a person who is able to “juggle” his sense of humor, presenting it in different forms; someone who knows how to see and identify different situations and adapt to them; someone who understands how to make a joke so that the maximum result is achieved. And you can learn all this only by knowing about the types and techniques of the comic.
After completing the third lesson, you will learn how a joke, anecdote, irony, oxymoron, satire and parody differ from each other, and you will see clear examples of each of these types. In the second part we will talk about basic techniques, and in conclusion you will be offered several exercises and recommendations for practicing skills based on the information received.
Lesson 4. Developing wit
Wit can be described as the “muscle” of the sense of humor. If she is undeveloped or even atrophied, her sense of humor will certainly be weak, but if she is strong and alive, even a couple of your words can cause an explosion of laughter and win dozens of people over to you. A sense of humor and wit are two facets of one whole, and one is impossible without the other.
The fourth lesson is divided into three parts. In the first, we will present more than a dozen recommendations for developing wit. In the second, we'll introduce five great techniques, each of which is accompanied by examples. And in the third, we’ll arm you with eight cool exercises that will help you become a real wit.
Lesson 5. What you can’t joke about and what the success of the joke depends on
The success of a joke is not always due to technique, originality, surprise or timing. An important factor is the topic on which a person jokes, because if you joke about something that is not customary to joke about, the joke will be unsuccessful, and the joker himself will most likely find himself in a very disadvantageous and unenviable position.
In Lesson 5, we'll cover the main topics that professional comedians and humorists avoid and explain why they are so. In addition, you will learn what to pay attention to when writing jokes and during the joke itself. And as a supplement, there will be excellent recommendations intended for beginning pranksters.
Lesson 6. Comic forms
In addition to the fact that there are different types and techniques of the comic, there are also many forms in which jokes are generally presented to the public. Simply put, when performing on stage with a humorous act, you won’t be able to get away with one anecdote, while a short story will work just fine in a friendly company. Likewise, it would hardly be appropriate to show an interesting skit to a friend at a bus stop, but it would be perfect for performing in public.
The sixth lesson is devoted to the forms of the comic. In it, of course, we will not consider their entire diversity, but will touch only on the most popular forms in our time. More specifically, we will present you with sketch, stand-up, miniature, humorous games and one man show. And by clicking on additional links, you can see examples of performances by artists in these forms.
Course authors:
Kirill Nogales and Evgeny Buyanov
Interesting Facts
- According to statistics, a five-year-old child laughs more than three hundred times a day, while an adult laughs about twenty.
- People who are about to watch a comedy film have three times more levels of growth hormone and beta-endorphin than those who pick up a political newspaper or turn on the news on TV.
- A doctor at the University of Rochester School of Medicine has identified the area of the brain that is responsible for a sense of humor. According to researcher Dina Shibata, this location is located in the lower part of the frontal lobe. This is why, after microstrokes concentrated in this part of the head, the understanding of jokes sometimes completely disappears.
- Those who like to laugh look younger, because when smiling, about 15 facial muscles are activated and blood flows.
- Laughter strengthens the immune system. This conclusion was reached by scientists who were able to study changes in the saliva of laughing patients. As it turned out, after laughing, saliva has tens of times more protective bacteria than in a calm person.
- Smiles relieve pain. It has been proven that sincere grins increase the pain threshold.
How to take classes
As already mentioned, our humor lessons are completely adapted for practical activities, and are also suitable for anyone who wants to develop a sense of humor. However, our task is to give you the base, and only you are responsible for what you do with it. We are talking about the fact that you can take at least a hundred courses and fill your head with a bunch of information, but still not do anything worthwhile in your life. Therefore, try to project everything from the area of knowledge into the area of action.
To make it more convenient for you to complete the course, break this process into several stages. You can do this - study two lessons during the week:
- One day – study of the first lesson.
- Two days – applying knowledge in practice.
- One day - rest.
- Further - according to the same scheme.
Of course, this is just an example, and you have every right to come up with your own system that is more suitable for your employment. The only thing we want to point out again is that it is important to go through the lessons very carefully and with an understanding of why you are doing it.
As for the practical component of the course (exercises, techniques, tips, recommendations, etc.), they imply not just a single repetition, but multiple repetitions - this is the only way you can fully master the material, consolidate and hone the acquired skills.
Try to develop a useful habit of reminding yourself that you are developing a sense of humor and learning to joke, then in real life you will not have any problems with experiments on this topic. With practice, the application of knowledge will become automatic, and the need for careful self-control will disappear by itself.
