Psychological Barriers and Humor

By Emiliano Rodriguez Nuesch and María Morena Vicente

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

Mark Twain

Taking action towards the world’s most urgent issues is no joke, but… can a joke be a catalyst for action? Indeed, humor can promote resilience by helping individuals cope with adversity. Laughing in the face of hardship can foster a sense of hope and perseverance, making it easier to face and address difficult issues.

In this article, we’ll explore how tapping into humor could be also extremely useful in overcoming psychological barriers, encouraging critical thinking and making us respond more proactively to major problems.

This graffiti artwork by English artist Banksy critiques climate change denial and highlights the urgency of addressing the crisis, using red capital letters and leaving this bold statement on a wall beside Regent’s canal in north London.

With this witty and creative move and laughing at the skeptics and negationists, the artist sparked conversation into an overwhelming topic when the UN Copenhagen climate summit in 2009 was taking place. The irony of the message is still relevant today. He managed to still spread an environmentally conscious message with his art ever since that first painting. The last one dates to March 2024 and is located in North London’s Finsbury Park.

Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister also used humor to share a powerful message on sea level rising for countries on the frontline.

In this recorded speech for the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow standing knee- deep to highlight how his low-lying Pacific Island nation is on the frontline of climate change.

“The statement juxtaposes the Cop26 setting with the real-life situations faced in Tuvalu due to the impacts of climate change and sea level rise and highlights the bold action Tuvalu is taking to address the very pressing issues of human mobility under climate change,” Kofe said in his video message.

Before Cop26, it emerged that one-third of Pacific small island states and territories would be unable to send any government figures to the summit in Glasgow due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. His bold approach drew attention to this urgent and major issue from global leaders and media, aiming for more aggressive action to limit the impact of climate change.

What are the effects of humor?

Other communications campaigns have used humor to raise awareness about environmental problems and trigger meaningful conversations about problems like pollution. An impactful example of these is Greenpeace’s awareness campaign “Toxic Tours”.

The TV spots featured well-known actors endorsing unconventional tourist activities, such as snorkeling in oil, riding chemical surf waves, and fishing in rivers filled with dead fish. These humorous spoofs aimed to convey a serious message: that 70% of Mexico’s rivers are contaminated, posing risks to citizens and potentially threatening the country’s tourism industry.

From a scientific perspective, different studies have assessed the effects of humor-based strategies to support climate action.

These researches have shown that humor can help create awareness, efficacy, emotions, and new knowledge formation, and comedic approaches can shape our coping and survival practices in contemporary life, though its effects are still being studied.

During the pandemic, visual jokes and memes emerged as a powerful tool for people to cope with the unprecedented challenges and uncertainties they were facing. From humorous takes on quarantine life to clever commentary on the state of the world, memes provided a much needed escape and sense of connection during times of isolation.

Whether it was poking fun at Zoom mishaps, finding humor in the absurdity of stockpiling toilet paper, or creating light-hearted memes about wearing masks, these internet jokes served as a form of collective therapy, allowing individuals to find moments of levity amidst the chaos.

In addition to providing laughter, memes also helped to normalize shared experiences and emotions, reminding people that they were not alone in navigating the complexities of the pandemic.

Science studied the effects of these interventions. Some findings suggest that societies responded better to the threat posed by the pandemic by searching for ways of releasing stress, as in the use of humor. Despite cultural differences, interest in memes may allow, not only a way of coping with anxiety, fear, or uncertainty, but also a way of shaping attitudes to the novel coronavirus and developing social networks during the pandemic.

In our exploration of humor to deal with complex societal challenges, we’ve seen its power to encourage critical thinking, draw people’s attention and trigger important conversations. There are still some important questions that are still to be explored: Can humor be ethically used to help draw people’s attention to help drive climate action? Can humor be used to overcome barriers and help us change the world?