Humor and Humor Styles and Their Relation to Gray Matter Volume

For counseling psychologists, mental health professionals, and psychotherapists, humor can help build rapport and assist with healing and processing. Humor is accessible to everyone of any age or culture and can be appreciated daily as one of our most significant human activities (Greengross, 2013). As Volpe (2022) mentions, research suggests humor is an important social function; it allows us to connect and want to be around others through laughter. People who use humor more have higher cognitive and emotional intelligence and creativity (Volpe, 2022). With so many positive benefits of humor, why is it not used more? First, to understand the benefits of humor, one must understand the differences in humor styles and how it relates to our brain development. This deeper understanding can help us implement humor to improve our well-being and mental health. Furthermore, it could explain the impact of humor used negatively and the changes in the brain, such as gray matter volume.

Humor, in essence, is what we find amusing, a concept that varies from person to person. The diversity in humor styles explains how individuals employ humor. Ford et al. (2014) delineate four humor styles: two positive styles, affiliative and self-enhancing, and two negative styles, self-defeating and aggressive. The affiliative style uses humor to entertain others; for social reward, the self-enhancing style uses humor to bolster and sustain positive psychological well-being. In contrast, aggressive humor seeks to harm or manipulate others, and self-defeating humor uses humor to evade problems and negative emotions (Ford et al., 2014). Understanding these humor styles is crucial, as it can significantly influence our neurological well-being and impact our biological makeup, enlightening and informing us about our own and others' behaviors.

Grey matter and white matter make up the central nervous system. Humans' ability to go about their daily lives is typically primarily due to the presence of grey matter (Mercadante & Tadi, 2023). Given gray matter's numerous functions and roles, we should consider how it develops and changes throughout our lifespan and its responses to adversity. Trauma could also contribute to developing grey matter-related problems (Mercadante & Tadi, 2023). These events may impact our daily routines and behaviors, mainly our gray matter and its functions. 

Zhang et al. (2020) investigated the relationship between regional gray matter volume (GMV) and self-defeating (SDH), a negative humor style, in 284 participants. The findings demonstrated a positive correlation between SDH and the regional GMV in the left orbital frontal cortex (OFC). These findings add to our understanding of the mechanism of humor and have significant implications for counseling psychology. They demonstrate brain structures' complex and intertwined relationship in humor (Zhang et al., 2020). Negative humor styles, which, according to research, can be damaging to our gray matter volume and brain structure, could be seen as traumas to our brain and impact how we behave and interact with ourselves and others; this also depends on how we appreciate and express our humor. Regional gray matter volume variations may be linked to individual variances in humor appreciation (Kipman et al., 2012).

When humor is employed positively, such as in the self-enhancing humor style (SEHS), it is a tool to navigate the challenges of daily living and shield us from negative emotions. Li et al. (2018) researched the relationship between young college students' SEHS and the gray matter volume (GMV) of brain regions. The results revealed that higher SEHS scores were linked to a more significant GMV in the group with high cognitive empathy of the precuneus. These findings suggest that high cognitive empathy and increased precuneus volume in young, healthy individuals can predict a greater use of self-enhancing humor (Li et al., 2018).

The research supports that humor styles could be risk factors and influence changes in our gray matter volume across the lifespan. However, there is still much to be explored in this field. Future research should prioritize the use and benefits of humor so we can make better-informed decisions that help us thrive. The future of counseling psychology and mental health should consider incorporating humor as a possible treatment option or commentary therapeutic tool, always with a keen understanding of the individual needs of our clients who could benefit from it while being respectful of appropriateness and cultural considerations.

References

Ford, T. E., McCreight, K. A., & Richardson, K. (2014). Affective style, humor styles and happiness. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 10(3), 451–463. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v10i3.766

Greengross, G. (2013). Humor and Aging - A Mini-Review. Gerontology, 59(5), 448–453. https://doi.org/10.1159/000351005

Kipman, M., Weber, M., Schwab, Z. J., DelDonno, S. R., & Killgore, W. D. S. (2012). A funny thing happened on the way to the scanner. Neuroreport, 23(18), 1059–1064. https://doi.org/10.1097/wnr.0b013e32835ad307

Li, B., Li, X., Pan, Y., Qiu, J., & Zhang, D. (2018). The relationship between self-enhancing humor and precuneus volume in young healthy individuals with high and low cognitive empathy. Scientific Reports, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-21890-0

Mercadante, A. A., & Tadi, P. (2023, July 24). Neuroanatomy, gray matter. StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553239/

Volpe, A. (2022, December 19). The very serious science of humor. Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23486818/science-humor-comedy

Zhang, W., Zhuang, K., Chen, Q., Shi, B., Qiu, J., & Wang, N. (2020). Relationship between self-defeating humor and the Gray matter volume in the orbital frontal cortex: the moderating effect of divergent thinking. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 15(4), 2168–2177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-020-00412-5