Here Are Sense Of Humor Types And Quickly Determine Your Humor Style

There are several distinct sense of humor types such as slapstick comedy, self-deprecating, and potty humor to name a few. Just recently psychologists have identified that each of us can have one or combination of four styles of humor. They even have a questionnaire, see below, that you can take to find out what style of humor you have. Enjoy!

Nine Sense of Humor Types.

There is general agreement that there are 9 sense of humor types. Some references on types of humor have more categories, but most sense of humor types fall in the following categories:

1. Physical Humor. This is also referred to as slapstick.
2. Self-deprecating Humor.  This humor is where the comedian puts themselves down and makes themselves the butt of the joke. Many stand-up comics use this type of humor.
3. Surreal or Absurd Humor. This style of humor brings up illogical events, absurd situations or nonsensical themes.
4. Improvisational or Improv Comedy. This is humor without a plan. Many times this is done by a group of actors like on the TV show ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’. Here they pull off comedy in the moment or on the spot. Oftentimes it is the awkwardness that makes it comedy.
5. Witty and Wordplay Humor. This type of humor is usually a play on words. This witty type of humor goes by a lot of names such as dry, deadpan, highbrow, quppy, repartee, wisecrack, quick, clever, droll, wry, and sarcastic.
6. Topical or Satirical Humor. This humor is based on current events or trends. This type of humor is found on TV shows like “Saturday Night Live“.
7. Observational Humor. This type of humor pokes fun at everyday life.
8. Bodily or Potty Humor. This humor is self-explanatory, also known as juvenile humor, gag jokes, and toilet humor.
9. Dark Humor. This style of humor, also called black comedy, focuses on the grim, the grotesque, or sick side of life. but includes comical or unusual situations.

See Huff Post’s There Are Nine Different Types Of Humour. Which One Are You?  and Go Natural English’s 9 Kinds of Humor Explained in English Humomama’s 45 Types of Humor with Examples for more on the different types of senses of humor.

What is Your Sense of Humor Style?

Psychologists have determined that we have four styles of humor. Psychology Today’s  The 4 Styles of Humor describes these styles of humor as:

1. Affiliative. This humor style is where we crack jokes, engage in banter, and otherwise use humor to make others like us
2. Self-Enhancing. This style of humor is optimistic, coping humor, characterized by the ability to laugh at yourself or at the absurdity of a situation and feel better as a result.
3. Aggressive. This humor style is characterized by sarcasm, teasing, criticism, and ridicule.
4. Self-Defeating. This style of humor attempts to get others to like us by putting ourselves down.

Take the Questionnaire To Find Your Sense of Humor Style. In 2003, psychologists developed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) as a scientifically validated way to measure humor. See the Cut’s Test Yourself: Psychologists Created a Quiz to Define Your Sense of Humor to take the questionnaire and find out your style of humor.

Which Countries Have the Best Sense of Humor?

According to TheTopTens.com web site, the United Kingdom and United States are the countries’ with the best sense of humor. Most Britons are humorists with some being “…high-brow and subtle, some much less so, some dry, some very robustly not!”. The United States has  the best comedians and the funniest movies. Americans’  “… friendly interaction will leave you laughing and joyful. American humor comes in every form imaginable… from immature to witty.” See The Top Tens’ Countries With the Best Sense of Humor for more on which countries