The nature of humor
Humor is thought-provoking and has a complex and multi-layered nature. Although its nature is based on laughter, laughter is the only means of achieving a superior goal and Informing man of the depths of evil. Although it laughs in appearance, but behind this laughter there is a bitter and terrible reality that dries the laughter in the depths of existence and it makes people think. As a result, humor can be thought of as a razor blade because the job of the cutting razor is to improve it.
Humor inherently stimulates man and increases his doubts, and by exposing the world as a dual, multiple, or contradictory phenomenon, takes people out of confidence in the facts.
Types of humor
1 – General and specific: General humor is a humor that has a general reflection and specific humor is the same satire that targets a specific person.
2 – Humor of the situation: Sometimes the incident is so unexpected that it makes you laugh.
3- Verbal humor: In this type of humor, the humorist works with words in a way that causes a kind of laughter or ridicule.
4 – Black humor: In this type of humor, the author wants to make the reader aware of the terrible facts that are happening.
5 – Political humor: This type of humor is used to express political problems, but since it cannot be directly addressed to the government, usually it expressed in the language of clowns of the court, or expressed in the language of lunatics.
6 – Family humor: This type of humor is for contemporary times and is more related to the relationship between husband and wife and bride and mother-in-law and employee and boss and ….
7- People’s humor: This type of humor is popular among the people and does not show mercy to anyone and is always several steps ahead of written humor and with nothing It cannot be stopped.
The difference between humor and comedy
Humor:
Humor is an artistic expression that is expressed with the intention of correcting that subject, not with the intention of destroying it. Humor in the word means to taunt and in literature it is said to the Certain types of literary works. And it challenges people’s misbehavior in a humorous way. Humor is also called a surgical razor that it improves by cutting. This point goes back to the fact that humor tries to correct and solve the problem by telling the problems.
Comedy:
Comic performance in the theater, cinema or television is called comedy. The purpose of comedy in appearance is laughter, but comedy intends to bring serious issues in the form of joke to the audience, and most of the protagonists’ characters make the audience laugh and do not harm anyone.
The most important differences between humor and comedy can be summarized as follows:
1 – Type of expression
The most important difference between humor and comedy is that humor tries to address the problems and shortcomings that an individual or a society may have, express with a clear and sweet language. So that makes one correct it; But comedy is a visual that can be done in a movie, theater or television. In doing comedy You can use all branches of humor such as humor, satire, etc.
2 – Philosophy of laughing
In comedy, laughter is raised for laughter; But in humor, laughter is expressed for mockery.
3- Humor is a tool and not the ultimate goal!
Another difference between humor and comedy is that humor is a means, not an end. Sometimes the satirist makes fun of the hero of a work, but he does not mean that hero. Rather, they mean those outside it; But there is no such thing in comedy, and every little thing can make you laugh.
Benefits of watching comedy movies
In the following, we will get acquainted with the most important positive physical and psychological effects of comedy.
1 – Comedy is really good for the body. The feeling of comedy is the opposite of anxiety and turmoil. This is because laughing releases beta-endorphins (A type of depression-relieving chemical) and enhances human growth hormone. Scientists have found in recent years that laughing also increases the flexibility of blood vessels and brings blood flow to a desirable and efficient state.
2 – Comedy is also good for mental health. Comedy, in addition to its anti-stress effect, can relax us.
3-We think things are funny when we think they are both right and wrong. When viewers are confronted with humor, they usually experience positive emotions (enjoyable) along with the negative emotions (disgust).
4-Our brain processes comedy like contradictions and conflicts. Humor activates the part of the brain that is responsible for dopamine secretion and Increasing dopamine in the brain also makes us feel good and happy.
Psychologists believe that a large amount of negative energy is stored in the body due to various life problems, and this energy, along with internal stress, emptied from our minds and bodies through laughter. That is why we always feel calm and focused after laughing.
The effects of humor and laughter on the lives of the elderly people
According to a recent published study, laughter therapy improves the quality of life of nursing home residents. Researchers, for 21 sessions for a total of two days During a week, the effectiveness of laughter therapy on 32 nursing home residents was compared with 33 other nursing home residents who were not undergoing laughter therapy.
The researchers found quality of life in the experimental group of post-treatment laughter therapy, including physical function, physical pain, physical role, general health, Vitality, social functioning, emotional role and spiritual health were significantly increased.
Researchers recommend that nursing home management should place laughter therapy in the healthcare sector, and laughter therapy should be used as a daily service.
Who can be good satirists?
Humor can undoubtedly entertain us. Hence, philosophers have been interested in and debating the category of “humor.” one of relatively old view of satire is the “theory of superiority” put forward by thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle. According to this theory, we laugh to those that, according to Aristotle, they did not reach self-knowledge. Most jokes and humors are caused by “contradiction” and “inconsistency”. Comedians who achieve this important principle often become successful comedians. Man thinks in terms of “revelation” and “innovation” and with certain criteria. In humans, “discovering emotions” works very well. Most of those who use this aspect of their feelings well and are very quick in assessing the situation, they can be successful comedians.
The difference between a joke and a mockery
Definition of ridicule
Ridicule is a negative state of mind that occurs when a person brings up a subject that is psychologically stressful to him or her in the form of words to another person to reduce his tension. In fact, ridicule is annoying to the person.
Who mocks
People with severe inferiority complexes find it ridiculous to fight against their own inferiority and assimilate to another person.in fact Hiding their flaw is projected onto another person, that. Means, they attribute their flaw to another person. These people have no control over their feelings and they have mental weakness.
The effects of ridicule
Mocking is a form of aggression that damages the relationship and hates and isolates the person, and isolation makes the person feel deficient. Does more and tries to ridicule more people due to hatred of social relations and a vicious cycle of ridicule and expulsion from society.
A joke
A joke is a positive state of mind and it occurs when a person says or does something unexpected or fun, or happens for other reasons and people laugh. Funny things are a special kind of happiness, so laughter is important in happiness. Common feature joke is in life and is often a spontaneous response to situations in the presence of others. Jokes can have a profound effect on people’s happiness. Joke is one of the Methods of inducing positive training.
Psychology of jokes
Most psychologists who have researched jokes have concluded that the main feature of events that make people happy is their inconsistency and It is necessary for people who want to be humorous. Using jokes and attracting attention are considered as indicators of social skills. Emotional people perceive jokes more funny and laugh more. Fanatics love sex jokes. Free-thinking people prefer meaningless jokes. Many dry and fanatical people enjoy inconsistencies and thus relieve their tensions. In some cases, joke Is for indirectly expressing annoyances and grievances from a particular person or group that cannot be directly stated.
Psychological causes of laughter:
- A sign of trust in others
- Strengthen social relationships
- Avoid conflicts and collisions
- Creating intimacy
- Positive interactions
- Laughter unites
Psychological and social effects of laughter and smiling
1 – Smiling makes a person more attractive.
2 – Smiling changes morals.
3 – Smiling is contagious.
4 – Smiling prevents stress and anxiety.
5 – Smiling improves the immune system.
6 – Smiling lowers blood pressure.
7 – Smiling increases hormones.
8 – Smiling makes a person look younger.
9 – Smiling shows a successful and happy person.
10 – Smiling helps a person to be positive.
The effects of laughter on learning
Recent research has shown that the stress hormone cortisol damages certain neurons in the brain and can negatively affect memory and ability learning in adults. Cortisol is involved in some health problems, including high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, and reduces hippocampal memory neurons.
Humor and cheerfulness, decrease the levels of harmful stress hormones such as cortisol, lower blood pressure and increase direct blood flow to The brain and as a result the mental state improves. The act of laughing or simply enjoying some humor enhances the release of endorphins and dopamine in the brain, they create a sense of pleasure and reward for the person. As a result of these positive neurochemical changes, the function of the immune system also improves.
Researchers say that there are changes in the activity of brain waves called gamma wave frequency, which improves memory and remembering l, and enjoyable laughter, immediately produces the same brain frequencies, these are the frequencies that people experience during meditation.
The impact of humor on advertising
Humor tries to penetrate and influence the audience’s subconscious by making irrational connections between the components of an image and creating unreal and dreamy images. This method has always been considered and used by designers in advertising and has been able to attract many audiences.
Using humor calms the audience and prepares them to receive a promotional message. Humor deprives the audience of the opportunity to oppose, as well humor attracts the audience and stays in their mind. Humor evokes positive emotion in the audience. The special power of humor lies in the fact that it can adapt to a variety of ads. The feeling that is often accompanied by humor is not just pleasure but more of something extraordinary and mysterious that it’s not logical not with reason and sometimes it is in conflict with it, and this causes the audience to think. Advertising presented with humorous expression will be able to shock the viewer, which is the main goal of contemporary designers. This style also makes Advertising show itself from another angle and penetrate the minds of the audience and leave a lasting image in the minds.
Humor damages and excessive laughter
Nitric oxide, more commonly known as funny gas, gives a person a temporary feeling of happiness and joy. However, inhaling Excessive amounts of it can lead to anesthesia and even death.
- Natural laughter that is not done out loud is actually good for the cardiovascular system. However, excessive laughter causes high blood pressure and puts too much pressure on the heart. A weak heart due to medical complications may not be able to tolerate such pressure too much.
- Intense laughter also significantly increases heart rate, making it unlikely that patients with heart disease won’t be able to Tolerate it.
- Excessive laughter can also kill people with cerebral aneurysms. Intense and powerful laughter can increase the pressure inside the skull significantly. This can cause the aneurysm to rupture, which can lead to a stroke. Even people who have neurological disorders are advised to avoid uncontrollable laughter to avoid the consequences.
- People with asthma should also avoid laughing out loud. In a study, it was concluded that the symptoms in patients (chest pain and cough) worsens due to excessive laughter. However, asthma caused by laughter was observed that medicine is not needed. It has also been reported in patients who can manage and control their asthma well, symptoms with prolonged laughter do not appear. This means that the aggravation of the symptoms due to laughter indicates that the asthma has not been properly controlled. Still, severe laughter may trigger an asthma attack. Therefore, patients should be cautious when they want to laugh out loud.
- Very loud laughter also puts a lot of pressure on the chest muscles. Hence, to people with respiratory complications such as lung collapse (Lying on top of each other lung tissue) is often recommended to avoid laughing out loud.
- Some people experience shortness of breath during intense laughter. There are also reports of people temporarily losing consciousness (about 3 to 5 minutes) Some of them have been black and blue for a few seconds due to unlimited laughter. Experts warn that Too much laughter causes shortness of breath or rapid breathing, which is dangerous to health but is unlikely to lead to death.
- Neuroscientists at medical school claim that strong emotions related to sadness or happiness stimulate an area of the brain that Controls the fight or flight reaction. During a fight or flight reaction, chemicals such as adrenaline are released into the body. Too much adrenaline can be bad for your health, especially your heart. So controlling and managing emotions (good or bad) is a better way to control General health.
