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Aggressive humor is one of the four styles of humor presented in psychology and measured by the Humor styles questionnaire (HSQ).
The other measured humor styles are Affiliative humor, Self-enhancing humor and Self-defeating humor.
This type of humor involves put-downs or insults targeted toward individuals. This is the humor that is used by more aggressive comedians—the put-down artists, such as Don Rickles or the late Joan Rivers. When it is intended to threaten or psychologically harm others, it is the type of humor used by bullies. While some of the audience to this type of humor will find it funny, others might laugh to cover up a feeling of discomfort.
What is Aggressive humor?
Aggressive humor is a style of humor that is potentially detrimental towards others. This type of humor is characterized by the use of sarcasm, put-downs, teasing, criticism, ridicule, and other types of humor used at the expense of others. Aggressive humor often disregards the impact it might have on others.
Prejudices such as racism and sexism are considered to be an aggressive style of humor. This type of humor may at times seem like playful fun, but sometimes the underlying intent is to harm or belittle others.
4 major humor styles |
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.
Aggressive humor associations
Aggressive Humor Book Recommendations
Continue expanding your knowledge on the subject of aggressive humor by reading the books we have selected for you:
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Your Thoughts about Aggressive humor
It’s highly recommended that you jot down any ideas or reflections that come to mind regarding Aggressive humor, including related behaviours, emotions, situations, or other associations you may make. This way, you can refer back to them on your Dashboard or Reflect pop-ups, compare them with your current behaviours, and make any necessary adjustments to keep evolving. Learn more about this feature and how it can benefit you.
References
- Martin, Rod A.; Lefcourt, Herbert M. (1984).“Situational Humor Response Questionnaire: Quantitative measure of sense of humor”.
- Martin, Rod A. (1996). “The Situational Humor Response Questionnaire (SHRQ) and Coping Humor Scale (CHS): A decade of research findings”. Humor – International Journal of Humor Research. 9 (3–4): 251–272.
- Ruch, Willibald; Heintz, Sonja (2016-08-19). “The German Version of the Humor Styles Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Overlap With Other Styles of Humor”. Europe’s Journal of Psychology. 12 (3): 434–455. doi:10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1116. ISSN 1841-0413. PMC 4991050. PMID 27547259.
- Frewen, Paul; Jaylene Brinker; Rod Martin; David Dozois (2008). “Humor styles and personality-vulnerability to depression”. Humor. 21 (2): 179–195. doi:10.1515/humor.2008.009. S2CID 143436723.
