A high school teacher is respected and loved by both his students and his colleagues because he easily diffuses tense moments with an appropriate light remark and he always seems to be able to find something funny in any situation. The defense mechanism he uses is called

Individuals who use humor as a defense mechanism are able to make use of comedy to express feelings and thoughts with potentially disturbing content without experiencing subjective discomfo and without producing an unpleasant effect on others. Humor is a mature defense, together with sublimation, altruism, asceticism, anticipation, and suppression.