In this article you will read about:
Self-defeating 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, Aggressive humor and Self-enhancing humor.
Putting yourself down in an aggressive or “poor me” fashion is called self-defeating humor. Psychologically, this can be an unhealthy form of humor, and is sometimes used by targets of bullies to try to avoid attacks—making oneself the butt of jokes before others put you down.
What is Self-defeating humor?
Self-defeating humor is the style of humor characterized by the use of potentially detrimental humor towards the self to gain approval from others. Individuals high in this dimension engage in self-disparaging humor in which laughter is often at their own expense. Self-defeating humor often comes in the form of pleasing others by being the “butt” of the joke. This style of humor is sometimes seen as a form of denial in which humor is used as a defense mechanism for hiding negative feelings about the self.
4 major humor styles |
There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.
Self-defeating humor associations
Self-defeating Humor Book Recommendations
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Your Thoughts about Self-defeating humor
It’s highly recommended that you jot down any ideas or reflections that come to mind regarding Self-defeating 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.
