Humor may also be a form of reappraisal. John Case, a retired CEO I know, had a phrase he used when people got tense in a meeting: “Did I tell you I just got a great deal on car insurance?” Out of context, this comment made people crack up, which shifted their perspective from serious to funny. From away, to toward. You have probably noticed how much easier it is to see options when you laugh at an otherwise tough situation. With humor, you don’t need that cognitively expensive step within reappraisal of trying to scroll through lots of alternative perspectives and come up with the perfect new
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