Four main types of humour

i) affiliative humour (joking around with friends to bond as a team)

ii) self-enhancing humour (recounting personal misadventures to cope with stress

iii) self-defeating humour (self-ridicule to close status gaps)

iv) aggressive humour (victimising others to raise personal standing)

NB The first 3 are positive types of humour while the last one is negative and can be destructive

. Need to realize that humour is most effective in the right environment. It needs guidelines to handle what types of humour is acceptable and unacceptable types of humour. Of the latter, aggressive and personal offensive or degrading humour should not be allowed. Once the guidelines are established, staff will create the type of humour most suitable.

(sources: Vivienne Anthon, 2004; Katherine Hudson, 2001; Eric Romero et al, 2006; Kevin Ryan, 2006;Narelle Hooper, 2007c)