There are people for whom making others laugh is a matter of honour. The strategies used in the comic style of self-presentation were described by humour researcher Agnieszka Fanslau, PhD. In her opinion, laughter and making others laugh play important roles: they allow you to maintain control over the course of interaction and create a sense of belonging.
The class clown who would rather get a lower grade for behaviour than lose the opportunity to make the class laugh; the friend - the life and soul of the party, who has an extraordinary gift for turning tense situations into a joke; the uncle who 'treats' the family with anecdotes at the table; April Fools' Day enthusiasts who plan their pranks well in advance... All of these people can be said to demonstrate a histrionic (from the Latin histrio - actor) - or more simply - comic style of self-presentation in their behaviour.
Psychologists from Poland, Canada and the UK investigated this style in their new study published in the scientific journal Humor (https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2023-0116). They wanted to better understand the strategies most often used by people in such situations.
According to the researchers, people who exhibit a histrionic self-presentation style demonstrate certain 'as if' behaviours, which includes pretending and role-playing in their everyday interactions to attract attention and amuse others. The components of such behaviours are: creating tension (attracting attention) and releasing it to provide the audience with entertainment.
'Self-presentation is about making an impression on others that corresponds to our intentions', the first author of the publication, psychologist Agnieszka Fanslau, PhD, from the University of Gdańsk, explains in an interview with PAP. Some people may want others to perceive them as attractive, while others may want to be perceived as threatening, competent, helpless, loyal, likeable or, finally, funny. Hence, the tactics used in self-presentation can and do differ. Depending on the situation, they may include: bragging, false modesty, threats, complimenting others, complaining or simply making people laugh.
Which comedy styles are most strongly associated with the histrionic style of self-presentation? In one concept described by German psychologists, there are eight comedy styles. Four of them are lighter, communal and non-aggressive. They include fun - practical jokes and clowning; wit - comebacks and wordplay; benevolent humour - a good-natured look at the imperfection of the world and people; and nonsense - a love of the absurd. And the four darker styles are: satire - parodying others; irony - communication based on intentional inconsistency; sarcasm - mockery and ridicule; cynicism - a doubtful attitude towards values. It turns out that three of them are particularly associated with the histrionic style of self-presentation. These are: fun, wit and satire.
Fun is dominated by so-called practical jokes: playing tricks, doing innocent tricks, clowning. In satire, on the other hand, apart from its clearly moral overtones, a certain pretence is very strongly emphasised, expressed as: 'I caricature the faults of my fellow men in a funny way in order to gently persuade them to change', or 'I parody bad human habits in order to oppose bad and stupid behaviour'. Finally, a brilliant wit, strongly connected with intellect - corresponds to the attention-grabbing motives of theatrical 'as if' behaviour in order to surprise others with funny remarks, accurately sum up non-obvious things or connect distant thoughts or ideas for a humorous effect.
Fanslau points out that the purpose of the histrionic style of self-presentation is to fulfil the need for belonging - contact with others, maintaining good relationships. Hence, this type of self-presentation is not particularly 'saturated' with darker styles of humour, which divide rather than unite.
Previous studies have shown that men rate their comic style of self-presentation much higher than women. 'The explanation is provided by evolutionary theory: this type of social competence is effectively used in courtship - men use wit and humour to attract women, and women are more open to men who can provide high quality wit! This signals warmth and friendliness, but also intelligence and high social competence', Fanslau explains.
Despite coming from different cultures, the participants (nearly 1,000 of them) did not differ in the level of (declared) histrionic self-presentation style. 'It seems that although Poland comes out very pale in terms of 'self-indulgence' (related to good fun, optimism and enjoying life) against the background of the smile cultures, to which the UK and Canada undoubtedly belong, its young inhabitants similarly value humorous self-presentations, and humour itself is associated with positive attitude, talent and an ideal personality trait of the average person', the researcher concludes.
PAP - Science in Poland, Ludwika Tomala (PAP)
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