The three major approaches on what humor is and where it comes from:

• The relief theory claims that laughter and humor are a way to discharge psychic energy.
• The superiority theory points out why we laugh at other's bad luck; humor is here a ...

• Reframing a negative event in an amusing light doesn't allow the negativity to trigger a depressive episode.
• People who score highly in certain types of humor have better self-esteem, are more positive, have greater self-competency, more control over anxiety, and better performance...

Researchers described four types of humor:

• Affiliative humor: this is the humor designed to enhance social bonds.
• Self-enhancing humor: this is similar to having a humorous, playful view of life in general.
• Aggressive humor

There appears to be some genetic component to humor; researchers have linked a sense of humor to certain variants of the 5-HTTLPR gene.

But there's no such thing as a completely humorless individual. If you want to boost your sense of humor, try to look at...