Column Chronicles: Narcissism connected to jokes, study shows

Narcissism connected to jokes, study shows

Frank Cotolo
November 29, 2018

New studies are coming down hard on the subject of comedy. Recently, a survey was taken concerning Narcissism and certain forms of jokes. A lesser journalist would tell you that there is nothing funny about the results. However, I am better than that, so wipe the smile off of your face and continue reading.

Scientific evidence now reveals that people who feel their comic displays are brilliant and hit their marks at a near-one-hundred-percent clip are taking themselves far too seriously and probably in the throes of Narcissism.

Narcissism is a personality disorder. It derives from a false love of self. A false love of self is the love of an image, not reality. A Narcissist's humor attacks those who do not fit the self-image, so the jokester is never in danger of being criticized and is always willing to make others the brunt of a joke.

Thus, Narcissists also have a low threshold for jokes they find offensive because they confront their images.

People in the study were asked to tell jokes about other people in the study. The scientists conducting the study wrote the jokes. Here is an example of a study joke.

"Most fat people don't eat much, they just stuff themselves because they are hungry for affection. Here, have a donut or six."

Thirteen people in the study group found this joke so offensive that they jumped the person telling the joke and pelted him senseless. Other people in the study laughed so hard their nostrils became swollen.

"We had subjects tell jokes that pointed to personal characteristics," said Professor Irvine Bladder, who helped create the study. "People whose characters fit the jokes were insulted. Those without the characteristics involved laughed at the expense of others."

The study concluded that people considering themselves better than others were comfortable poking fun at other people if the other people were not like them and the joke teller considered those jokes "always funny." The Narcissist always justified the action. One man said, "Hey, I told a fat person joke and some one got mad but if I were a fat person I would laugh, mostly because the joke is funny if you are fat, not fat, obese or so big you have to be buried in a piano crate."

"This study needs more time," said Dr. Bladder. "But we don't want to study this thing to death. After all, a good fat joke is worth a big belly laugh, so to speak."

Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.