What Is Humor Personality Test?
Inspired by the Humor Styles Questionnaire, it’s an analytical quiz to categorize your sense of humor, both psychologically and socially.
The vibe you give off is the main focus of the test. But it also considers other factors such as humor intensity, purpose, and delivery.
Find Out the Psychological Function of Your Sense of Humor
Rod A. Martin et al. conducted a study in 2003 to identify how humans use humorousness in social situations. They found that there’s a psychological aspect to one’s wittiness that could be grouped into four main functions: Gaining popularity, self-help, criticism, and self-defeat.
The humor personality quiz uses their findings to sort your sense of fun into one of the mentioned categories. Here’s what to know about each.
Self-Defeating
You are using self-defeating humor when attempting to get others to like you by putting yourself down. An example would be making fun of your driving skill to cover up the fact that you were late to work.
Affiliative
Another psychological function of the sense of humor is bonding with others. With affiliative comicality, you crack jokes and engage in banter to make it easier for others to relate to you—and hopefully, like you.
An example would be making fun of an awkward situation during your first date to break the ice.
Self-Enhancing
When you laugh at yourself or at the absurdity of a situation as a means of coping, you’re using self-enhancing humor.
An example would be laughing at your own blooper at a meeting and stopping it from stressing you out or ruining your presentation.
Aggressive
Sarcasm, teasing, criticism, and ridicule are categorized as the aggressive sense of humor. Its function is often to deliver a harsh message that would normally cause distress or argument.
| Sense of Humor | Function |
| Affiliative | Bonding with others |
| Self-enhancement | Feel better about oneself |
| Aggressive | Deliver a harsh or controversial message |
| Self-defeating | Getting others to like you. |
Note: People usually have a mixed humor type when it comes to psychological aspects. So, you might actually use all four categories in your life—but you’d likely lean towards one.
See Which of the 9 Humor Types You Prefer
It’s one thing to know what is your sense of humor, but it’s a whole another story to find out which type you prefer.
A joke’s function might be affiliation, self-help, criticism, or self-burn. But its type depends on the delivery. For example, your self-defeating joke could be delivered in the form of deadpan, dark humor, or even irony.
Each type has its distinct features, and the quiz is able to distinguish them in your sense of humor. So, by the end of the test, you’d also know what delivery method you prefer when being funny.
The 9 types of humor are:
#1. Slapstick. Also known as physical humor, it’s dedicated to rough jokes like touching, pushing, slapping, etc.
#2. Deadpan. Dry humor delivered with little to no emotional change.
#3. Self-Deprecating. Making fun of oneself.
#4. Potty Humor. Joking about body functions, gross experiences, and adult content.
#5. Topical & Satire. A form of criticism about the current events and news in the form of ridicule.
#6. Irony. Using the discrepancy between two topics to make a joke or poke fun at something.
#7. Parody. Mocking or making fun of something/someone through imitation.
#8. Dark. Jokes that include or are oriented around serious, morbid, or taboo topics.
#9. Surreal. Going against logic and laughing at an unbelievably absurd and unreal situation.
The Test Reveals if You Are Humorless
A person with no sense of humor is called humorless, sullen, unfunny, or even grim.
The good news is that the quiz identifies if you’re such a person. It analyzes your funniness to ensure you’re not an overly serious individual.
Not that there’s anything specifically wrong with being humorless, but most people don’t want to fall in that category.
According to Stanford Business, “A study found that women with a strong sense of humor had a 73% lower risk of dying from heart disease and an 83% lower risk of dying from infection. Men who scored high on humor experience similar benefits.” So, it’s also a health concern.
Why It’s Important to Know Your Sense of Humor
Your humor affects your communication style. So, it’s essential to get to know it if you want to improve your social life and establish healthy relationships.
For example, imagine a person’s humor function is aggressive and often uses dark humor to deliver their ideas. What do you think could be the outcome of such a combination? Passive-aggressive criticism and toxic relationships.
Now, think about a person who uses humor for self-enhancement and delivers their ideas through surreal jokes. What could be the outcome? Easier communication and healthier social relationships.
3 Things that Affect the Test Results
The test’s premise is to answer questions like, “What is my sense of humor?” To do so, it considers three main aspects of your funniness: the topics, delivery, and timing.
Knowing the mentioned aspects of one’s sense of fun makes it much easier to identify their type and analyze their wit.
How you make fun of different topics.
You could joke about a topic in dozens (if not hundreds) of ways. And the delivery method you choose reveals so much information about you, whether it’s satire, irony, sarcasm, or else.
When you try to be funny.
Timing is another aspect of your sense of humor. Are you funniest under pressure and stress? Or do you prefer to make jokes when you’re calm and feel safe? The answer can determine what type of humor you have.
What you make fun of.
You could tell the same joke to different people and watch them laugh at different aspects. So, the topics you choose are also of significant importance. Do you prefer taboo and morbid stuff, or do you feel at ease with making friendly and nice jokes?
Let’s find out the answers with an entertaining (yet, totally scientific) quiz.
