3 Ways Humor Improves Serious Situations

Families and medical workers are among those who benefit.

Reviewed by Lybi Ma

Key points

• Appropriate humor can lighten up even the weightiest of circumstances.
• It helps to know which type of humor is appropriate in any situation.
• Light, positive humor is generally more helpful than darker humor in serious situations.
• Humor provides a number of healthy and helpful benefits beyond a good laugh.

Whether or not it seems appropriate under certain circumstances, most situations, like most people, can benefit from a good laugh. A funny, timely comment can lift a mood, diffuse tension, or make a tough situation a little easier. While dark comical sarcasm has a place in the humorsphere, social scientists have found that light or benevolent humor is often best when the situation is serious.

Humor In Family Dynamics

Humor has proved to be a highly effective tool for parents and caregivers trying to establish and maintain positive relationships with their children, according to a pilot study investigating the effects of humor felt by parents and grown children, performed by researchers at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine and Columbia College in Chicago. The participants, 312 mostly white males aged 18 to 45, responded to a 10-question survey on how they felt about their own parents' use of humor as a parenting tool, whether or not they use humor as a tool for parenting their own children, and whether or not they would value coursework that could teach them how to use humor as a parenting tool.

The majority of responses to all of the survey questions expressed positive feelings about humor, although there was no consensus on what actually constitutes humorous parenting. Of the 80 percent of participants who reported a good relationship with their own parents, the majority had parents who used humor with them and, as a result, believed that humor can be an effective parenting tool and were more likely to use humor as a tool in parenting their own children,

While thoughtless, sarcastic, or mocking-style jokes have the potential to cause harm in children, lighter, positive humor such as in humorous improv-style games or roll-your-eyes types of “Dad jokes” were considered positive distractions from situations that might otherwise lead to conflict and anger. Just like positive playful behavior in a serious situation, the right joke under the right circumstances can alter the perception of a conversation or situation and create a more positive shared experience between parent and child. In turn, the researchers say, such positive parent-child experiences not only help develop a sense of humor in children but are associated with a child’s greater sense of well-being.

Humor In Medical Care

A recent German study looked at the demanding work lives of more than 600 medical assistants in primary care practices to find out what type of humor they used and what type was most effective at mitigating their workday stress and improving psychological function throughout the workday. The researchers assessed eight different styles of humor—benevolent, fun, witty, nonsensical, ironic, satirical, sarcastic, and cynical—along with aspects of psychological functions such as feelings of well-being and competence on the job.

The researchers found that those who preferred and used light-hearted, positive humor with their patients and among themselves got more positive feedback and felt more purposeful at work than those who preferred sarcastic or cynical humor. Dark sarcasm resulted in the most negative feedback and negative psychological functioning. At the same time, however, light or positive sarcasm and other darker styles of humor were still found to be helpful between and among coworkers to release the tension and frustration that often goes along with the job. Again, it’s a matter of knowing what type of humor has the best effect on different people in different situations.

Humor in Political Discourse

Another area where humor has been found to play a positive role is in conveying political and government news to young adults. Through comedic media that focuses on current political events. While looking at the effects of political humor and comedy programming on the ability of 18- to 34-year-olds to remember and spread political information, researchers at Ohio State University and the University of Pennsylvania found that humor not only enhances memory in this age group and increases the likelihood they will spread such information, it also enhances their ability to understand and consider other political points of view.

Overall, the researchers concluded that, more than sharing such news in a non-humorous manner, spreading political news with humor not only stimulates areas of the brain that encourage social interaction and enhance memory for political facts, it heightens the activity in areas of the brain connected to thoughts about how other people think and feel. The significance of this, the researchers point out, is that entertainment media is and can be not only a source of political information but can also help increase the overall knowledge and understanding of government and politics necessary to maintain a democracy.