Part. I. Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
Mark Twain said that "Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place." He's certainly not wrong. Humor may very well be the great thing. It touches upon nearly every facet of life--90% of men and 81% of women report that a sense of humor is the most important quality in a partner, and it's even been shown to improve cancer treatments.
There are three main theories on what humor is and where it comes from. Relief theory argues that laughter and humor are ways of blowing off psychological steam, a way to release psychic energy. That's why jokes told at funerals are often met not with silence but with uproarious laughter instead. Superiority theory was originally formulated by Plato and Aristotle to explain a specific kind of humor: why we laugh at other's misfortunes. In this theory, humor is a means of declaring one's superiority over others. Lastly, incongruity theory argues that humor arises when two contrasting, distinct ideas are mingled. Humor often subverts expectations, and punch lines are often the result of an unexpected reversal.
Being funny is possibly one of the best things you can do for your health. You can almost think of a sense of humor as your mind's immune system. People at risk for depression tend to fall into depressive episodes when exposed to some kind of negative stimuli. However, reframing a negative event in a humorous light acts as a kind of emotional filter, preventing the negativity from triggering a depressive episode.
Humor doesn't just guard against depression. It also improves people's overall quality of life. Researchers have found that people who score highly in certain types of humor have better self-esteem, more control over anxiety, and better performance in social interactions. Not all kinds of humor are made equal, however. In the same study, the researchers identified four types of humor: affiliative humor, or humor designed to strengthen social bonds; self-enhancing humor, which is akin to having a humorous view of life in general; aggressive humor, such as mocking others; and self-defeating humor, in which an individual encourages jokes that are self- depreciating or have themselves as the target.
The positive contributions mentioned above only occurred when individuals scored highly in affliative and self-enhancing humor, while aggressive and self-defeating humor was associated with poorer overall well-being and higher anxicty. So, when cultivating your sense of humor, it's important to strive for the right kind ㅡ besides, it's a wrong thing to make fun of others anyhow.
(Adapted from Big Think, April 13, 2019)
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