Self-Depricating Humor Linked To Better Life

New research shows that humor is a key element of emotional resilience. From The Independent:

Frequent use of self-deprecating humour has been linked to a better overall psychological wellbeing, a study has discovered.

When you hear someone making fun of themselves, you would usually assume that they’re doing so to conceal their insecurities. 

However, a recent study has found that the opposite may be the case; that making yourself the butt of your jokes actually demonstrates greater levels of happiness and self-assurance(…)

One of the most defining outcomes of the study was the acknowledgement that the use of self-deprecating humour doesn’t necessarily have negative connotations, as previously thought(…)

“In particular, we have observed that a greater tendency to employ self-defeating humour is indicative of high scores in psychological wellbeing dimensions such as happiness and, to a lesser extent, sociability,” said Jorge Torres Marín, co-author of the study.

Their findings illustrated how other forms of humour are particularly beneficial in various contexts.

Affiliative humour, which involves telling jokes that the majority of people would find funny, is helpful at strengthening social relationships.

The use of self-enhancing humour allows people to overcome unpleasant situations by allowing them to find the humour and silver lining in any circumstance.

Click here to read the full article

But I don’t understand what I read

Have the bankers tried this?

The problem is that depreciation and deprecating are different words otherwise my accountancy joke is comedy gold:

“I wanted to be a personal accountant but I couldn’t figure out self depreciation.”

I frequently use self deprecating humor as a way to team bond and introduce, in the nervous setting of meeting new people it makes people quickly get together, it’s quite a good tool. It does come with a downside in that you have made yourself the butt of a joke, and people will often continue to make you the butt of a jokes in a long term team. You probably need to gently tell people that it’s ok to make your self the butt of jokes but not to make other people, that is difficult to do when popular comedians do it and most people haven’t thought about the ethics of jokes.

Perhaps you should try it more in collaborative teams rather than in competitive teams.

My accountant always reminds me that,  “There three types of people in the world; those that are good at math and those that aren’t!” Perhaps that’s the reason my portfolio is in the shape that it is!