The Sense Of Humor: Is It The Same All Over The World?

Is the sense of humor the same or different in each country? According to a study by Mendiburo and Páez (2011), humor is a universal component of culture. However, how each country demonstrates this varies. According to Alford and Alford (1981), these demonstrations are made through various objects and shapes.

Yet there are common elements in the humor of all cultures. For example, Mendiburo and Páez stated that most fun stimuli are related to images, ideas, texts, or actions that are in some way incompatible, unusual, unexpected, surprising, or extraordinary.

In other words, there are situations, approaches or ideas that can generally make people laugh. However, each country has a characteristic type of humor. This means that what is fun for the people of one nation may be boring for another. As you can see, humor is something very personal. What sense of humor do the different countries have? What does the research say about it? That’s what we’ll be talking about in this article.

The sense of humor: Is humor the same all over the world?

According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, humor is the ability to laugh at things that are funny. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a sense of humor is something that gives someone the opportunity to say funny things and see the funny side of things. Although it is a definition of sense of humor, it is not a worldwide definition of it. The truth is that it is incredibly subjective, which makes it difficult to get a correct definition of it.

Furthermore, not everyone has a sense of humor. This is unfortunate since having it and putting it into practice provides great benefits such as laughing, feeling happy and feeling general well-being. As Charlie Chaplin once said, “A day without laughter is a wasted day.”

Moreover, it is safe to say that the sense of humor in different countries is completely different. Some nations may have things in common when it comes to it, but in general, humor tends to be very individual. Just as no human has the exact same sense of humor, the same goes for land. It is about individual differences versus social and cultural differences.

In that sense, culture, society and other values ​​can affect a person’s sense of humor. You have probably experienced this while traveling or meeting someone from other countries. For example, have you ever told a foreigner a local joke and they did not even smile? Or has anyone ever heard a joke in another country that you did not think was funny at all? This happens often. However, there are common elements in all cultures.

The sense of humor: Is humor measurable?

Did you know that humor is measurable? It can be measured through an instrument called the Humor Styles Questionnaire. This is a test of 32 questions that lets you know what type of humor you practice.

These are the categories that are included: attachment humor (used to reinforce belonging to a group), self-affirmative humor (based on an exaggeration of oneself), aggressive humor (focused on another person) and self-disqualification (focused on self-irony). Thus, each country has a more prominent type of humor than another.

Example of differences in sense of humor

The Dutch professor Geert Jan Hofstede conducted an interesting study in this connection. He spent many years studying how the sense of humor changes depending on the geographical area. Here is an example.

Hofstede said that former President Jimmy Carter, a man with a great sense of humor, traveled to Japan to hold a conference. During the conference, he told a joke, which the translator interpreted for the audience, and which as a result laughed out loud.

After that, the president congratulated the translator and asked how they had managed to interpret the meaning of his joke so well for the Japanese. The translator, feeling a little uncomfortable, finally replied, “Sir, I did not change the joke at all. I said: President Carter told a funny story, everyone has to laugh. ” As you can see, this is a good example of what we are discussing here.

Some examples of humor in different countries

How is the humor in the different countries? Begoña Carbelo, a humor researcher and professor at the University Center of Health Sciences San Rafael-Nebrija at Nebrija University, contributed to the answer to this question. According to her, people in the United States tend to tell more anecdotes than jokes. In addition, she saw that Americans valued comics higher. It also seems that they tend to use humor as a coping mechanism for adversity.

According to Hofstede, for example, Japanese people do not often tell jokes about themselves. On the other hand, Jews and Scots do it. When it comes to English people, they rely more on irony and intellectual play, and above all use their sense of humor to attract attention or as a way to show off status.

In addition, the English do not care so much about being funny, as the researcher stated. Instead, humor allows them to overcome difficult situations. What about the sense of humor in Spanish people? According to experts, their humor is more self-centered, with frequent use of double meaning and many jokes.

Sense of humor: Common elements

Despite the fact that the sense of humor is different in different countries, recent studies show that humor is actually more universal than we thought. For example, traditional comics are based on the same pretensions and ridicule that we can find in comedies like Molière, Shakespeare or Cervantes.

Last thoughts

As you can see, the sense of humor varies a lot. This variation explains why you probably do not understand jokes from foreigners, or why they do not laugh at your jokes. Each country’s culture and history have a great influence on this. It is important to take into account the traditions, ways of life, society, norms and values of each place in order to really understand what the people there think is fun. Although there are different types of humor, there are common elements or basic pillars to keep in mind.

For example, according to Martin (2007), laughing must be an aspect of the stimulus in the question that makes you think it is not serious. This is necessary for you to understand that they are talking to you about something playful.