Gil Greengross

Gil Greengross
Aberystwyth University | AU · Department of Psychology

PhD

About

27
Publications
70,349
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
728
Citations
Introduction

Publications

Publications (27)
Article
The growing psychology of magic field explores how spectators understand, appreciate, and experience this ancient performing art. The present research explored how skeptical, superstitious, and paranormal beliefs predict the enjoyment of magic. A sample of American adults ( n = 292) completed a measure of magic attitudes (the Loathing of Legerdemai...
Preprint
The growing psychology of magic field explores how spectators understand, appreciate, and experience this ancient performing art. The present research explored how skeptical, superstitious, and paranormal beliefs predict the enjoyment of magic. A sample of American adults (n = 292) completed a measure of magic attitudes (the Loathing of Legerdemain...
Chapter
This chapter summarizes the theories and research on the evolutionary bases of humor. We aim to explain the potential adaptive value of humor, what functions humor serves, and how a sense of humor can help increase fitness. We will focus our explanations on the two central mechanisms, natural selection and sexual selection, that are deeply rooted i...
Article
Full-text available
Background There is a common perception that creativity is associated with psychopathology. Previous studies have shown that members of creative groups such as comedians, artists and scientists scores higher than the norm on psychotic traits, and scientists in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields score highly on autistic t...
Article
Full-text available
Magic is an ancient, universal, diverse, and wide-ranging domain of artistic performance. Despite its worldwide popularity, however, any working magician will tell you that some people really hate magic. They seem to see every illusion as a challenge to be solved and every performance as an insult to their intelligence. A distinctive feature of mag...
Article
In seven studies (n = 1,133), adults tried to create funny ideas and then rated the funniness of their responses, which were also independently rated by judges. In contrast to the common “funnier than average” effect found for global self-ratings, people were relatively modest and self-critical about their specific ideas. Extraversion (r = .12 [.07...
Preprint
In seven studies (n = 1,133), adults tried to create funny ideas and then rated the funniness of their responses, which were also independently rated by judges. People were relatively modest and self-critical about their ideas. Extraversion (r = .12 [.07, .18], k =7) and openness to experience (r = .09 [.03, .15], k = 7) predicted rating one’s resp...
Preprint
Magic is an ancient, universal, diverse, and wide-ranging domain of artistic performance. Despite its worldwide popularity, however, any working magician will tell you that some people really hate magic. They seem to see every illusion as a challenge to be solved and every performance as an insult to their intelligence. A distinctive feature of mag...
Article
Full-text available
We offer the first systematic quantitative meta-analysis on sex differences in humor production ability. We included studies where participants created humor output that was assessed for funniness by independent raters. Our meta-analysis includes 36 effect sizes from 28 studies published between 1976 and 2018 (N = 5057, 67% women). Twenty of the 36...
Article
Using a twin study paradigm, the genetic basis of decision making styles was explored using psychometric scales as well as actual choices. Study 1 compared monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins along the General Decision Making Scale (GDMS) and the Maximizing-Satisficing Inventory (MAX). MZ twins exhibited greater similarity than their DZ count...
Article
Full-text available
There is a widely held belief that humor contributes to better health, but the research on this topic yields mixed results. To assess the relationship between humor and health, we compared the susceptibility to various infectious diseases of 511 humorists (amateur improvisational artists) and a control group of 795 non-humorists that were matched t...
Article
Full-text available
In recent years, there seems to be no preference, choice, emotion, thought, or behavior that has escaped the scrutiny of a neuroimaging machine. Scanning the brain allegedly reveals insights into the foundations of morality (Greene et al., 2001), altruism (Tankersley et al., 2007), sense of humor (Bartolo et al., 2006) and even religious beliefs an...
Chapter
Full-text available
Humor is a universal social phenomena enjoyed daily by individuals in every culture in the world. There is little doubt that evolutionary forces played an important role in shaping humor, but the nature of humor adaptation is still debated. Sexual selection theory is presumed to play a central role in the evolution of humor, and growing evidence su...
Chapter
Full-text available
(from the chapter) Humor plays an important role in mate choice, a role in which males and females are not equal partakers. Men and women view humor differently, and their motivations, experiences, usage, and consumption of humor are not the same. These differences might be best understood in light of sexual selection theory and by looking at the d...
Article
Full-text available
Humor is one of the most important human activities, one that is enjoyed daily by people in every culture and at every age. However, very little is known about how aging affects humor experiences. Research suggests that elderly people enjoy humor more than younger people, but they have increasing difficulties in understanding jokes. Several cogniti...
Article
Full-text available
Reviews the book, Humor 101 by Mitch Earleywine (see record 2011-03367-000). In this book, the author tries to change peoples’ perceptions about humor research. Earleywine is both a psychologist and a stand-up comedian, and as such he is in a unique position to understand humor both from a scholarly point of view and also through the lens of someon...
Article
Full-text available
This study examines a commonly held belief, left over from psychoanalytic theories of humor as a coping mechanism, that relationships with parents strongly influence comedians' temperaments and career choices. Thirty one professional stand-up comedians and 400 students completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), which concerns recollected pare...
Article
Full-text available
Individual differences in humor production ability are understudied, especially among experts. This is the first quantitative study of personality traits, humor production ability, humor styles, and intelligence among stand-up comedians. It analyzes data from 31 comedians and 400 college students with regard to the Big Five personality traits (NEO-...
Article
Stand-up comedians are a vocational group with unique characteristics: unlike most other entertainers with high creative abilities, they both invent and perform their own work, and audience feedback (laughter or derision) is instantaneous. In this study, the Big Five personality traits (NEOFFI-R) of 31 professional stand-up comedians were compared...
Article
Full-text available
This study explores the adaptive functions and design features of self- and other- deprecating humor. Sixty-four female and 32 male college students participated in a two- part study. In the first part, we examined the relationships among participant demographics, personality traits, and preferences for producing different types of humor. Men repor...
Article
Full-text available
Article
Full-text available
Reviews the book, "Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach" by Rod Martin (see record 2006-21361-000). This book was written as an effort to promote the study of humor in mainstream psychology. If nothing else, Martin's book shows that humor is a serious subject of study, and humor researchers should not be taken lightly. There is a bit of a p...

Questions

Question (1)
Question
Assuming you have a limited amount of money to spend, say $500. Is there an optimal sum to use for a raffle of a gift certificates when recruiting participants? For example, would it be better to draw 5 gift certificates for $100 each, 10 cards for $50, or perhaps 25 cards for $20? Any insight for those facing a similar situation or have experience on this issue is welcomed.

Network

Cited By