Bullied children using 'wrong jokes'

Summary:

A study from the University of Keele has examined links between bullying and different styles of playground humor. It found how humor can influence the social status of a child. There are four types of humor, of which the self-defeating type plays an important role in being bullied. Using this type, children disparage themselves excessively and make themselves the butt of their own jokes. This is answered with another type of humor, the aggressive one. Hereby, children use jokes as a way of attacking other people. The negative use of humor is a nurtured behavior, so maybe it is possible to teach children how to use humor to their advantage.  

Words: 110

Own opinion:

I am not sure whether I am surprised by the outcome of this study. Logically thinking, children who are being bullied, have less self-esteem. Therefore, they would sooner make jokes to ridicule themselves instead of feeling self-confident and ‘bragging’ about that. On the other hand, this kind of is the chicken-and-egg debate, because what happened first, the bullying or the low self-esteem? I can see why the children make those jokes about themselves though, just as a lot of grown-ups do, if you say it first, it seems you are cool about your flaws and people cannot tease you with them anymore… or at least, that’s what you hope…

Words: 109

Source:
Sean Coughlan (1 May 2013). BBC. Bullied children using 'wrong jokes'. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22354326