An Introduction to the Psychology of Humor
... Otro de los beneficios del humor es mitigar los efectos negativos de situaciones estresantes (Gibson, 2019), así, es considerado una estrategia de afrontamiento efectiva. El humor permite a las personas replantear la situación estresante haciéndola menos amenazante, mitigando los efectos negativos en la salud (Berk, 2015). ...
... De acuerdo con esto, ante la presencia de eventos altamente estresantes, las personas con mayor capacidad humorística presentan menores efectos psicológicos negativos que aquellas personas con menor capacidad. Incluso, se ha reportado que cuando se utiliza el humor como estrategia de afrontamiento, los niveles de cortisol (hormona asociada con altos niveles de estrés) son menores que cuando no se utiliza el humor (Gibson, 2019). ...
... El humor es una herramienta de comunicación que favorece las relaciones sociales (Gibson, 2019) y puede cumplir diversas funciones; algunas de estas pueden ser prosociales, por ejemplo, promover unidad y pertenencia; mientras que otras pueden ser agresivas o coercitivas, favoreciendo el establecimiento de supremacías, el aislamiento y la humillación de las personas divergentes, la manipulación y el uso de los otros para construir un status (Martin & Ford, 2018). ...
El objetivo de este capítulo es presentar una línea de evidencia sobre la regulación del consumo alimentario por la interacción con otros, fundamentada en una concepción molar del comportamiento. Para tal efecto, se presentará en primera instancia los principales rasgos de la aproximación teórica y metodológica. Posteriormente, se ilustrará cómo se ha estudiado el mismo fenómeno desde una tradición molecular, cuáles son los hallazgos característicos y cómo se explican. Enseguida se mostrará cómo tales hallazgos no se replican completamente cuando se aborda el fenómeno molarmente. Finalmente, se resaltarán las bondades de la propuesta y los retos que presenta.
... Otro de los beneficios del humor es mitigar los efectos negativos de situaciones estresantes (Gibson, 2019), así, es considerado una estrategia de afrontamiento efectiva. El humor permite a las personas replantear la situación estresante haciéndola menos amenazante, mitigando los efectos negativos en la salud (Berk, 2015). ...
... De acuerdo con esto, ante la presencia de eventos altamente estresantes, las personas con mayor capacidad humorística presentan menores efectos psicológicos negativos que aquellas personas con menor capacidad. Incluso, se ha reportado que cuando se utiliza el humor como estrategia de afrontamiento, los niveles de cortisol (hormona asociada con altos niveles de estrés) son menores que cuando no se utiliza el humor (Gibson, 2019). ...
... El humor es una herramienta de comunicación que favorece las relaciones sociales (Gibson, 2019) y puede cumplir diversas funciones; algunas de estas pueden ser prosociales, por ejemplo, promover unidad y pertenencia; mientras que otras pueden ser agresivas o coercitivas, favoreciendo el establecimiento de supremacías, el aislamiento y la humillación de las personas divergentes, la manipulación y el uso de los otros para construir un status (Martin & Ford, 2018). ...
... Otro de los beneficios del humor es mitigar los efectos negativos de situaciones estresantes (Gibson, 2019), así, es considerado una estrategia de afrontamiento efectiva. El humor permite a las personas replantear la situación estresante haciéndola menos amenazante, mitigando los efectos negativos en la salud (Berk, 2015). ...
... De acuerdo con esto, ante la presencia de eventos altamente estresantes, las personas con mayor capacidad humorística presentan menores efectos psicológicos negativos que aquellas personas con menor capacidad. Incluso, se ha reportado que cuando se utiliza el humor como estrategia de afrontamiento, los niveles de cortisol (hormona asociada con altos niveles de estrés) son menores que cuando no se utiliza el humor (Gibson, 2019). ...
... El humor es una herramienta de comunicación que favorece las relaciones sociales (Gibson, 2019) y puede cumplir diversas funciones; algunas de estas pueden ser prosociales, por ejemplo, promover unidad y pertenencia; mientras que otras pueden ser agresivas o coercitivas, favoreciendo el establecimiento de supremacías, el aislamiento y la humillación de las personas divergentes, la manipulación y el uso de los otros para construir un status (Martin & Ford, 2018). ...
Comportamiento y salud. Investigación traslacional y aplicada es una obra que reúne propuestas de análisis e intervención, desarrollo tecnológico y trabajo empírico orientado al estudio de variables psicológicas relacionadas a la salud. El lector podrá consultar sobre temas de psicología traslacional, psicología básica orientada, psicología y COVID-19, así como propuestas y hallazgos de intervenciones psicológicas.
... Different approaches to humour -rooted in psychology, arts or linguistics -set the incongruity as a main ingredient of this phenomenon (Attardo, 2017a(Attardo, , 2017bGibson, 2019;Martin, 2007Martin, , 2014Martin, , 2016Meany et al., 2014;O'Shannon, 2012;Suls, 1972Suls, , 1983Timofeeva-Timofeev, 2017;Yus, 2016Yus, , 2017. This is basically understood as a sudden interruption of a regular, 'by default' processing of the information which forces the hearer to seek an alternative interpretation (cfr. ...
... Diferentes acercamientos al humor -arraigados en la psicología, las artes o la lingüística -establecen la incongruencia como ingrediente principal de este fenómeno (Attardo, 2017a(Attardo, , 2017bGibson, 2019;Martin, 2007Martin, , 2014Martin, , 2016Meany et al., 2014;O'Shannon, 2012;Suls, 1972Suls, , 1983Timofeeva-Timofeev, 2017;Yus, 2016Yus, , 2017. Esa básicamente se entiende como una interrupción de un procesamiento regular, 'por defecto', de la información que obliga al oyente a buscar una interpretación alternativa (cfr. ...
Phraseological manipulation (PhM) is defined as an intentional and recognizable transformation of a phraseological item with different communicative effects (Timofeeva 2009). It is clear the relationship between this linguistic procedure and the notion of incongruity –the basic ingredient of a humorous product (Forabosco 2008). It is also evident that the appropriate use of PhM requires good metalinguistic skills, and this becomes relevant when dealing with children (Gombert 1992; Timofeeva 2016).
In this paper we analyze the use of PhM as a linguistic device to trigger humour in 448 narratives written by schoolchildren of three age bands: 8, 10 and 12-years-old. Our results are: (1) the use of PhM is scarce at the age of 8 (around 3 %); whereas it increases exponentially in 12-year-olds (around 30 %), (2) the qualitative approach reveals that children at the age of 8 make a rather epipragmatic use of PhM, which deserves some interesting observations.
... La comprensión de un estímulo humorístico incluiría, por lo tanto, tres etapas: la representación mental de la organización del estímulo humorístico a partir de nuestros conocimientos y experiencias previas; la detección de la incongruencia en la interpretación de dicha representación; y la resolución de la incongruencia del estímulo mediante inhibición de la interpretación literal y la acepción de un significado alternativo, el que produce diversión. Este modelo se conoce como el modelo de tres fases (Gibson 2019). La comprensión del humor se vincula a menudo a la estrategia responsiva prototípica, la risa, aunque a menudo la correcta percepción e interpretación del estímulo humorístico desencadena otras estrategias, las dirigidas a su apoyo: un estímulo humorístico de reposición; repetición léxica; respuesta contradictoria o incluso una respuesta no verbal, como un asentimiento o una sonrisa (Schnurr 2010). ...
Los experimentos psicolingüísticos recientes han hecho patente que la afectación del lenguaje en demencia se extiende al ámbito de la pragmática y, particularmente, al humor. Se trata, sobre todo, de trastornos en la capacidad de las personas con demencia de descodificar adecuadamente la simbología lingüística de base social y emocional. Estos trastornos se manifiestan en una marcada dificultad para entender estímulos humorísticos, la tendencia a imitar las estrategias humorísticas propias de la infancia y el desajuste entre la producción del humor y el contexto. En las vertientes perceptiva y productiva del humor, las personas con demencia pueden presentar una afectación variable entre enfermedades, debido tanto al deterioro de su competencia pragmática y de otros niveles lingüísticos, como a la afectación de las funciones cognitivas generales.En este trabajo ofrecemos una primera aproximación a la descripción de la capacidad de personas con diferentes tipos de demencia con afectación pragmática (enfermedad de Alzheimer, demencia semántica y demencia frontotemporal) de gestionar las inferencias en la recepción de estímulos humorísticos. Asimismo, partiendo de que apenas hay estudios sobre la producción del humor verbal en la demencia, proponemos un modelo para estandarizar las pruebas de ilicitación del humor en personas con la enfermedad de Alzheimer a partir del modelo de subversión/predisposición. Dicho modelo considera el estímulo humorístico como el resultado de la interacción de dos grandes ejes: la “subversión” de las expectativas interpretativas iniciales del receptor y las condiciones contextuales que posibilitan y predisponen la extracción de inferencias en el plano del humor. El fin último de nuestro trabajo es aportar datos a la comprensión de la afectación del humor bajo efecto de diferentes cuadros neurodegenerativos y, de forma particular, ofrecer una propuesta de estudio del humor desde la pragmática clínica.
... Humor refers to everything that is viewed as humorous and likely to make others laugh, as well as the mental processes involved in creating and recognizing an amusing stimulus and the emotional response connected with its enjoyment (Gibson, 2019). In addition, he argued that the media adds to the humor. ...
In Indonesia, Stand-up Comedy has become the most popular form of community entertainment, resulting in the emergence of influential youth culture. Stand-up Comedy has become a platform for comics to communicate political aspirations, worries, and criticisms. Three comics from Eastern Indonesia, Arie Kriting, Abdur, and Mamat Alkatiri, have continuously presented Stand-up Comedy material regarding socioeconomic disparity and the availability of public services in their native region. In addition to the aforementioned concerns, education, emancipation, economic, and technological issues are common discussion topics. Typically, Eastern Indonesian comic elements communicate criticisms and worries about inequality and underdevelopment. Due to the presence of some Comics from East Indonesia who regularly expressed and voiced the unrest and backwardness felt by the people of East Indonesia, this issue became popular and garnered widespread attention. This qualitative study analyzes the utilization of satire in stand-up comedy content. This study utilized Barbara Swovelin (2019) concept of Horatian Satire, Friedman's Menippean Satire (2019), and Van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis approach. As a result of this study, Eastern comics used sarcasm and humorto express their dissatisfaction with the government.
... Gülme ile ilgili olarak beyinde broca alanı, motor korteks, bazal nükleuslar, frontal lob ve limbik sistem yapıları ile beyin sapı öne çıkmaktadır (Şekil 1). 18 Bu verilerin çoğu patolojik gülme bozukluklarındaki lezyon çalışmalarından elde edilmiştir. Beyin sapındaki kortikobulbar yolaklarda engelleyici hasar, patolojik gülmenin ortaya çıkmasında özellikle etkilidir. ...
Laughter behavior is an important interaction and communication tool in humans, whose social characteristics are the most developed. Laughter is also thought to have important contributions to health. The brain stem plays an important role in the laughing behavior, which emerges as an intellectual function of the brain, as well as the broca's area, motor cortex, basal nuclei and anterior cingulate cortex and other limbic system structures. Interestingly, the relationship of these regions with laughter has often been described in studies related to brain lesions. In our article, the brain regions related to laughing and the effects of laughter on health are discussed. The characterization of the brain regions related to laughter is based on the findings of the lesion examination studies in these areas. In this way, inferences about the physiological regulation of laughter from pathophysiological changes are aimed.
... Individuals can misconstrue the meanings and intentions of humorous posts. If taken out of context, this humor can be interpreted as intentionally harmful and hateful due to the stress and chaos surrounding people (Gibson, 2019;Martin & Ford, 2018). ...
This study examines the effects of humorous posts on Twitter during an uncertain time, such as the Coronavirus pandemic, which brought panic globally. In Kuwait, many Twitter users have posted humorous tweets about the Coronavirus to influence the public’s understanding of the pandemic and exert pressure on government to take measures to stop the spread of the disease. However, the impact of many of humorous tweets was indirect and negative, causing panic and division among social groups. An online survey was employed to examine the effects of humorous Twitter messages on understanding the pandemic, causing hatred toward others and augmenting a sense of negative emotion in society. The response of 1,031 to the survey indicated that humor increased negative emotional reactions and increased understanding of the pandemic. There was no link between Twitter humor and hatred of others. The influence of humor during times of uncertainty and crises is discussed.
... RT seeks to provide an empirical psychological theory that can account for human communication and cognition, making use of some assumptions from (and searching to achieve integration with) Evolutionary Biology. It presupposes that "human cognitive abilities are a part of nature; (…) adapted as a result of natural evolution"(Sperber and 4 For a contemporary overview, seeGibson (2019). ...
This paper explores some aspects of the scientific study of creativity by focusing on intentionalattempts to create instances of linguistic humour. We argue that this sort of creativity canbe accounted for within an influential cognitive approach but that said framework is not arecipe for producing novel instances of humour and may even preclude them. We start byidentifying three great puzzles that arise when trying to pin down the core traits of creativity,and some of the ways taken by Cognitive Studies in this quest. We then consider what we call‘creative humour’, which exhibits the core features of the aforesaid creativity. We then explorehow a key cognitive approach to human communication can account for creative humour.We end by drawing lessons and highlighting limitations to cognitive approaches to creativity.
... It should be acknowledged that pun and humour influence the target audience positively by creating favourable associations about the advertised product. Research has shown that humour found in ads captures the attention of consumers, creates interest, which in its turn influences the positive choices regarding the advertised service (Gibson, 2019). Humour also facilitates understanding of an advertisement, and grasp always creates positive emotions (Weinberger, Gulas, 1992). ...
The language of advertising is unique and very peculiar in comparison with other elements of media discourse. The effectiveness of speech in advertising media discourse focuses on catching the attention of the target audience. Since the language of advertising is characterized by a distinguished persuasive function, the creators of ads spare no effort to make them catchy, interesting and witty. This is the reason why various linguistic devices are used to facilitate the comprehension and memorization of advertisements. In this regard, wordplay plays a significant role as the intentional usage of puns ensures the effectiveness of the composed texts.
... La comprensión de un estímulo humorístico incluiría, por lo tanto, tres etapas: la representación mental de la organización del estímulo humorístico a partir de nuestros conocimientos y experiencias previas; la detección de la incongruencia en la interpretación de dicha representación; y la resolución de la incongruencia del estímulo mediante inhibición de la interpretación literal y la acepción de un significado alternativo, el que produce diversión. Este modelo se conoce como el modelo de tres fases (Gibson 2019). La comprensión del humor se vincula a menudo a la estrategia responsiva prototípica, la risa, aunque a menudo la correcta percepción e interpretación del estímulo humorístico desencadena otras estrategias, las dirigidas a su apoyo: un estímulo humorístico de reposición; repetición léxica; respuesta contradictoria o incluso una respuesta no verbal, como un asentimiento o una sonrisa (Schnurr 2010). ...
Recent psycholinguistic experiments have highlighted that language impairment in dementia affects pragmatics and, in particular, humor. Impairment in humor consists in the difficulty that speakers with neurodegenerative diseases develop for the proper decoding of language symbols with social and emotional background. As a result, such speakers show strong fatuity for humor stimuli, tend to imitate child-like humor strategies and mismatch humor production and context. In both perceptive and productive humor, people with different dementia profiles show different humor impairments: on the one hand, this is due to both general impairment of pragmatic competence and other language levels; and, on the other hand, cognitive decline itself influences on it.
In this work, we offer a first approach to how speakers with different dementia syndromes that involve pragmatic impairment (Alzheimer’s disease, semantic dementia and frontotemporal dementia) retain the ability to extract inferences from humor stimuli. Likewise, building on the large gap in the study of verbal humor production, we propose a model aimed at standardizing humor production tests in the most common dementia, the Alzheimer’s disease, on the basis of the subversion/predisposition model. This model takes the humor stimulus as a result of interaction between the subversion of recipient’s initial expectations and the contextual conditions that predispose inference extraction in humor. The primary goal of our work is to contribute to the comprehension of humor affection and impairment in different neurodegenerative diseases and, in particular, to propose a model for humor study from the perspective of clinical pragmatics.
... The current study could complement the previous finding in showing that extraversion and openness to experiences jointly modulated the cognitive and affective aspects of verbal humor processing in an opposite rather than a similar direction, in the LPP time window. In addition, agreeableness is characterized by traits like sympathetic, warm, generous, friendly, and a willingness to play along or move from the literal to the figurative (Gibson, 2019). Although agreeableness was associated with affiliative tendency or humor styles, it was not correlated with humor comprehension and/or production (Martin, 1998;Moran et al., 2014). ...
Extraverts and introverts show different preferences for humor regarding different humor types. However, few
studies focused on the neurological underpinnings of the connection between extraversion and the stage-wise
cognitive model of humor processing. To investigate the influence of extraversion on different sub-stagesof
humor processing, electroencephalography (EEG) data was collected when participants read and rated jokes and
non-jokes. The event-related potential (ERP) data showed a smaller N400 (300–500 ms) but a larger late positive
potential (500–900 ms) for jokes than non-jokes, which may reflect lexical association and integrative inter-
pretation in joke processing. The more extraverted group had a larger P2 (200–300 ms) and a smaller N400 than
the less extraverted group in response to all the stimuli, which may indicate their different allocation of at-
tentional and cognitive resources to external stimulation. Additionally, the regression analyses showed that the
late positivity effects of jokes were positively correlated with the extraversion level. The results could imply
extraverts’ controlled processes of cognitive resource allocation for jokes, and suggest the same groups’ atten-
tiveness and motivation for reward stimuli (i.e., jokes). Importantly, our ERP data could support extraverts’
increased exploration for verbal humor from a better temporal aspect for the first time.
... The best way in regulating language variations is by using language which infringes the social norm, i.e. taboo language and taboo topic (Schnurr & Plester, 2017): to mention two are Sex and the City and Six Feet Under premiered in US tv cable (Bucaria & Barra, 2016). It is a fact of what experts call as dark humour (Gibson, 2019;Nesi, 2012), which can provoke laughter (Attardo, 1994). Comedians who can take advantages of being superiority for imperfections of others (Hickson-Hahn, 1998) and governing taboo language use during the comedy show will undoubtedly receive great excitement from the floor (Wajnryb, 2005). ...
This study focuses on the conceptions and practices of Iberian (Portuguese and Spanish) mathematics teachers regarding instructional humour. Specifically, the study aims to answer the following questions: (1) How do Iberian mathematics teachers view humour and how do they appreciate a sense of humour? (2) What educational value do Iberian mathematics teachers ascribe to humour in the teaching and learning process of this subject? (3) How do Iberian mathematics teachers use humour in mathematics teaching? and (4) What differences, regarding humour and its use in the educational context, are found among Iberian mathematics teachers, as determined by their professional experience? A mixed methodology was adopted for this study, with a greater quantitative emphasis, combining quantitative analysis with descriptive and inferential statistics. Iberian mathematics teachers (N=1087) from all educational levels participated in the study. The data was collected through an online questionnaire, organised according to three dimensions of analysis: (1) Humour and sense of humour; (2) Educational value of humour in the teaching and learning of mathematics; and (3) Use of humour in the teaching of mathematics. The results reveal that Iberian teachers who teach mathematics recognise the meaning of humour, feel they have a sense of humour and appreciate it in others, find reasons to use it in mathematics teaching and have seen it being used or use it in their classes to create a good learning environment and make students think. The results show differences over the teachers’ careers, especially in their use of humour and the purpose they make of it. However, the magnitude of the effect suggests the need to consider other variables in addition to the teachers’ professional experience, such as the level of training, the type of training and the cultural context in which the school is located.
This study focuses on the conceptions and practices of Iberian (Portuguese and Spanish) mathematics teachers regarding instructional humour. Specifically, the study aims to answer the following questions: (1) How do Iberian mathematics teachers view humour and how do they appreciate a sense of humour? (2) What educational value do Iberian mathematics teachers ascribe to humour in the teaching and learning process of this subject? (3) How do Iberian mathematics teachers use humour in mathematics teaching? and (4) What differences, regarding humour and its use in the educational context, are found among Iberian mathematics teachers, as determined by their professional experience? A mixed methodology was adopted for this study, with a greater quantitative emphasis, combining quantitative analysis with descriptive and inferential statistics. Iberian mathematics teachers (N=1087) from all educational levels participated in the study. The data was collected through an online questionnaire, organised according to three dimensions of analysis: (1) Humour and sense of humour; (2) Educational value of humour in the teaching and learning of mathematics; and (3) Use of humour in the teaching of mathematics. The results reveal that Iberian teachers who teach mathematics recognise the meaning of humour, feel they have a sense of humour and appreciate it in others, find reasons to use it in mathematics teaching and have seen it being used or use it in their classes to create a good The European Journal of Humour Research 10 (4) Open-access journal | www.europeanjournalofhumour.org 201 learning environment and make students think. The results show differences over the teachers' careers, especially in their use of humour and the purpose they make of it. However, the magnitude of the effect suggests the need to consider other variables in addition to the teachers' professional experience, such as the level of training, the type of training and the cultural context in which the school is located.
1 Öz Siyaset, her dönemde mizahın konusu olmuştur. Resmi söyleme karşıt bir söylem geliştirmek ve siyasetin katı sınırlarını esnetebilmek noktasında mizah, önemli bir potansiyele sahiptir. Dolayısıyla da siyasi mizah, siyaset ve mizahın kesişim noktasında önemli bir araç olarak kabul edilmektedir. Siyasi mizahın birçok biçimi bulunmaktadır. Ancak yazılı olması noktasında siyasi mizah gazeteleri ve dergileri, siyasi mizahın güçlü unsurları arasında yer almaktadır. Bu bağlamda yapılmış olan çalışmada siyaset ve mizah arasındaki ilişki, siyasi mizah dergileri özelinde tartışılmıştır. Çalışmanın amacı, siyaset ve mizah arasındaki ilişkiyi siyasi mizahın yazılı biçimleri özelinde ortaya koymaktır. Bu bağlamda çalışma kapsamında yargısal örnekleme tekniği kullanılarak seçilen ve Türkiye' de 1949 yılında yayın hayatına başlayan Nuhun Gemisi dergisi özelinde siyasi mizahın rolü üzerinde durulmuştur. Ayrıca çalışmada nitel bir araştırma yöntemi olan doküman analizi yöntemi kullanılarak, Nuhun Gemisi dergisinin 31 sayısı incelenmiş ve Soğuk Savaş Döneminde Amerika tarafından Türkiye'ye yapılan ekonomik yardımların siyasi mizahın konusu olarak ele alınış biçimleri ortaya koyulmaya çalışılmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda elde edilen verilerde de görüldüğü üzere mizah, siyaset ve toplum arasında güçlü bir ilişki bulunmaktadır. Mizah, siyasi söylemin bir unsuru olmakla beraber aynı zamanda toplumsal ve sivil muhalefetin de bir aracıdır. Mizahın bu yönü, Nuhun Gemisi dergisindeki Amerika karşıtı tutumda ve söylemde de kendisi göstermektedir. Abstract Politics has always been the subject of humor. Humor has an important potential to develop a discourse against the official discourse and to stretch the rigid boundaries of politics. Therefore, political humor is accepted as an important tool at the intersection of politics and humor. Political humor has many
Politics has always been the subject of humor. Humor has an important potential to develop a discourse against the official discourse and to stretch the rigid boundaries of politics. Therefore, political humor is accepted as an important tool at the intersection of politics and humor. Political humor has many forms. However, in terms of being written, political humor newspapers and magazines are among the strong elements of political humor. In this context, the relationship between politics and humor has been discussed in the context of political humor magazines. Therefore, the aim of the study is to reveal the relationship between politics and humor in the written forms of political humor. In this context, the role of political humor has been focused on in the context of the Nuhun Gemisi magazine, which was selected using the judicial sampling technique and started its publication life in Turkey in 1949. In addition, using the document analysis method, which is a qualitative research method, in the study, the 31 issue of the Nuhun Gemisi magazine was examined and the ways in which the economic aids made by the United States to Turkey during the Cold War were handled as the subject of political humor were tried to be revealed.
In the present study, we examined the impact of humor’s positive functions on the perception of a job’s meaningfulness. We argued that liberating and stress-relieving humor act as job resources enhancing job crafting to increase social and structural resources to experience meaningfulness. We hypothesized that crafting the job to increase structural and social resources would mediate the link between organizational humor functions (i.e., liberating and stress-relieving) and meaningfulness. We conducted a cross-sectional study among 200 Turkish employees from different occupations. Our results revealed that increasing structural resources mediated the relationship between liberating humor and meaningfulness, while this mediation was partially for stress-relieving humor. The mediating role of increasing social resources was partial and conditional for both types of organizational humor functions. The practical and theoretical implications have been discussed from a positive organizational scholarship perspective.
[Both this and the Castilian versions are translations of the editor from a paper originally written in English that will appear in the Anual Review 6]. Aquest article explora alguns aspectes de l'estudi científic de la creativitat centrant-se en la creació d'humor lingüístic intencionat. Sostenim que aquest tipus de creativitat pot explicar-se dins d'un enfocament cognitiu influent, però que aquest marc no és una recepta per a produir exemples nous d'humor i fins i tot pot evitar-los. Començarem identificant tres grans problemes que sorgeixen en tractar de precisar els trets centrals de la creativitat i algunes de les formes adoptades pels estudis cognitius en aquesta cerca. Després considerarem què anomenem «humor creatiu», que exhibeix les característiques centrals de la creativitat abans esmentada. Després investigarem com un enfocament cognitiu clau per a la comunicació humana pot explicar l'humor creatiu. Acaberem extraient conclusions i destacant les limitacions dels enfocaments cognitius per a entendre la creativitat.
[Both this and the Valencian versions are translations of the editor from a paper originally written in English that will appear in the Anual Review 6]. Este artículo explora algunos aspectos del estudio científico de la creatividad centrándose en la creación de humor lingüístico intencionado. Sostenemos que este tipo de creatividad puede explicarse dentro de un enfoque cognitivo influyente, pero que dicho marco no es una receta para producir ejemplos novedosos de humor, e incluso puede excluirlos. Comenzaremos identificando tres grandes problemas que surgen al tratar de precisar los rasgos centrales de la creatividad y algunas de las formas adoptadas por los estudios cognitivos en esta búsqueda. Luego consideraremos a qué llamamos «humor creativo», que exhibe las características centrales de la creatividad antes mencionada. A continuación exploraremos cómo un enfoque cognitivo clave para la comunicación humana puede explicar el humor creativo. Por último, extraeremos conclusiones y destacaremos las limitaciones de los enfoques cognitivos para entender la creatividad.
Depictions of death in media produced for young audiences are not limited to melodramas or action films; there are frequent depictions of death in new media, often produced not only for, but also by, young adults. Despite the fact that new media in general, and memes in particular, are standard means of communication and expression for young people, memes about suicide (hereafter suicide-memes) are not thoroughly studied in their own right. This article presents a phenomenological analysis of contemporary suicide-memes. Although suicide-memes seem, on the surface, to be just gallows humour or hyperbole that has little to do with death, we argue that this is deceptive. We contend that suicide-memes are characteristic of what Heidegger calls our everyday, inauthentic relationship with death. This relationship is one of trivialisation and avoidance, which obscures the personal reality, and inevitability, of one’s own death.
Humour, a positive psychology (PP1.0) construct (Fischer, Carow, & Eger, 2020) is a central component of resiliency. Having a sense of humour is a sign of human strength, intelligence, and psychological maturity (Abel, 2016; Ghaemi, 2011). Humour allows individuals to emotionally distance themselves from a stressful event in order to cope. Humour is considered as a crucial job resource for individuals across cultures. It has been further credited for several positive outcomes such as resilience and well-being (Billig, 2018). The objective of the chapter is to present a critical review of the moderating role of resilience in adaptive humour styles (self-enhancing and affiliative humour) and well-being at work from a PP1.0 perspective. The findings of the study of Bhattacharyya, Jena, and Pradhan (2019) indicate a significant association between the adaptive humour styles and well-being at work, with resilience as a moderator.
Innovative musician, producer and songwriter Walter Becker (1950-2017) wielded humor to distance himself from a traumatic childhood and to bind himself to a peer group that shared his skewed, wry worldview. Following years of struggle at the fringes of the music business, Becker achieved worldwide success as co-founder of the platinum-selling band Steely Dan. By the end of the 1970s, however, Steely Dan was defunct, and Becker retreated to the Polynesian-American subculture of Maui, Hawaii, where he continued to write and record songs that tackled the orientalist theme of "East meets West" in his inimitable droll style. The present chapter takes up Eysenck's psychology of humor as well as various social theorists' assessments of Romantic irony as lenses through which to view Walter Becker's lifelong struggle to bend his potentially ego-diminishing sardonicism into positive relations with self and others. Positive Psychology 2.0 (PP2) will be called upon to frame the chapter's discussion section, in which it is concluded that Becker was able to mitigate the self-other corrosion that emanated from his hipster-satirist persona by integrating into his art the more earnest, sincere sentiments that sprang from life on his Maui estate.
PT: O presente trabalho Teve por objetivo a caracterização e correlação dos Estados de Ânimo presentes, os níveis de Motivo de Realização e as Metas de Realização de atletas brasileiros de alto rendimento no período pré-competitivo, comparando-os em função do gênero e do tipo de modalidade esportiva (individual ou coletiva) praticada. Também foi analisado como tais aspectos se dão ao longo de um período competitivo, considerando desde o último treino antes da competição até sua partida final, em uma equipe masculina de uma modalidade coletiva. Dessa forma, o Estudo 1 mostra a adaptação transcultural e a validação da Ray-Lynn AO Scale ao contexto esportivo brasileiro, o Estudo 2 mostra a adaptação transcultural e a validação da 3×2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport ao contexto esportivo brasileiro, o Estudo 3 apresenta a caracterização e as relações entre Motivo de realização, Metas de Realização e Estados de Ânimo pré-competitivos de atletas em função do gênero e do tipo de modalidade esportiva praticada e o Estudo 4 apresenta a caracterização e as relações entre Motivo de Realização, Metas de Realização e Estados de Ânimo pré-competitivos de atletas de uma modalidade coletiva ao longo de um período competitivo.Os resultados mostram que o processo de adaptação transcultural e a validação da Ray-Lynn AO Scale ao contexto esportivo brasileiro sofreu alterações em sua estrutura fatorial original, tendo itens sido retirados e erros de diferentes fatores correlacionados, não se apresentando como uma medida confiável de Motivo de Realização mesmo após as modificações. O processo de adaptação transcultural e a validação do 3×2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport ao contexto esportivo brasileiro o legitima como forma de acesso às metas de realização de atletas brasileiros, com um estrutura fatorial ajustada, restando melhorar sua confiabilidade (quatro de seis fatores atingiram o critério adotado pelo estudo). A caracterização do Motivo de Realização, Meta de Realização e Estados de Ânimo presentes mostra que, em geral, atletas brasileiros tem alto grau de Motivo de Realização, são orientados à demonstrar competência perante os requisitos da tarefa e apresentam Estados de Ânimo ligado à esperança e interesse na pré-competição. As correlações entre estes aspectos mostram especificidades das relações encontradas em relação ao gênero dos atletas e tipo de modalidade esportiva. A análise destas relações ao longo da sequência de treinos e jogos mostraram que os processos motivacionais analisados não sofreram alterações durante este período, mas os Estados de Ânimo presentes sim. Os resultados sobre relações entre Motivação e Emoção no contexto esportivo brasileiro e suas implicações metodológicas, conceituais e práticas dos enunciados encontrados são discutidas.
EN: The aim of the present thesis was to characterize and correlate the present Mood States, Achievement Motivation level and the Achievement Goals of high-performance Brazilian athletes in the pre-competitive period, comparing them according to gender and type of sport (individual or collective) practiced. It was also analyzed how such aspects occur over a competitive period, considering from the last training before the competition until its final match, in a men's team of a collective modality. Thus, Study 1 shows the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Ray-Lynn AO Scale to the Brazilian sports context, Study 2 shows the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the 3×2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport to the Brazilian sports context, Study 3 presents the characterization and the relationships between Achievement Motivation, Achievement Goals and pre-competitive Mood States of athletes according to the gender and type of sport practiced and Study 4 presents the characterization and the relationships between Achievement Motivation, Achievement Goals and pre-competitive Mood States of athletes from a collective sport over a competitive period. The results show that the process of cross-cultural adaptation and the validation of the Ray-Lynn AO Scale to the Brazilian sports context has undergone changes in its original factorial structure, with removed items and correlated errors of different factors, do not present as a reliable measure of Achievement Motivation even after modifications. The process of cross-cultural adaptation and the validation of the 3×2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire for Sport to the Brazilian sports context legitimizes it as a way to access the Achievement Goals of Brazilian athletes, with an adjusted factorial structure, remaining to improve its reliability (four out of six factors reached the criterion adopted by the study). The characterization of the Achievement Motivation, Achievement Goals and pre-competitive Mood States shows that, in general, Brazilian athletes have a high degree of Achievement Motivation, are oriented to demonstrate competence to the requirements of the task and shows present Mood States linked to hope and interest in pre-competition. The correlations between these aspects shows specificities of the relationships found in relation to the athletes' gender and type of sports. The analysis of these relationships throughout the sequence of training and matches showed that the motivational processes analyzed did not change during this period, but the present Mood States did. The results about the relationship between Motivation and Emotion in the Brazilian sports context and its methodological, conceptual and practical implications of the novel statements are discussed.
Theory of Mind (ToM) may be defined as the ability to understand the mental states, such as beliefs, desires, intentions, and emotions, of others. Impairment of ToM ability leads to disorders with pathologies in social skills, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia. In addition to differences in ToM ability among patient populations, there is variation between neurotypical individuals. Unfortunately, ToM tasks are usually developed for children or patients with cognitive disorders and cannot detect variations in healthy adults. As an alternative tool, humor may be used. Humor plays a role in social communication and requires many different cognitive functions. Humor is believed to represent complex high-order cognitive processes. There are numerous types of humor; the most complex type is considered ToM humor, where an understanding of social/emotional content is necessary. Given the need for a ToM assessment test suitable for healthy adult populations, we developed a test for measuring humor comprehension and appreciation, with and without ToM content (ToM-HCAT). The present ToM-HCAT test is a performance test consisting of cartoons. The test measures perceived funniness, reaction time to perceived funniness decision, and meaning inference. Cartoons were selected after pilot studies involving 44 participants. Subscales were constituted according to expert views and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (N = 135). Goodness of fit values for the final 35-item test were acceptable to excellent: GFI = 0.97; AGFI = 0.97; NFI = 0.97; RFI = 0.97, and SRMR = 0.067. Both categories were internally consistent (α1 = 0.84, α2 = 0.94). External validity was assessed against autistic traits. One hundred and three participants completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient and were grouped by +0.5 standard deviations from the mean as high in autistic traits. The meaning-inference scores of the subscale with the ToM cartoons were significantly lower (p = 0.034) for the high autistic traits group, providing evidence of external validity. In conclusion, we developed and validated a test for assessment of ToM by humor comprehension and appreciation. We believe that the present test will be useful for the detection of variations in ToM ability in the healthy adult population.
Background: The central goal of palliative care is to optimize the quality of life of patients suffering from life-limiting illnesses, which includes psychosocial and spiritual wellbeing. Research has demonstrated positive correlations between humor and laughter with life satisfaction and other aspects of wellbeing, and physiological symptoms can be improved by humorous stimuli.
Objectives: The aim of this review is to evaluate humor interventions and assessments that have been applied in palliative care and to derive implications for future research.
Methods: A systematic review of four databases identified 13 included studies. Criteria for inclusion were peer-reviewed English-language studies on humor interventions or assessments in a palliative care context.
Results: Two studies on humor interventions and 11 studies on humor assessment were included in the systematic review. Most of these studies were about the patients' perspective on humor in palliative care. Findings showed that humor had a positive effect on patients, their relatives, and professional caregivers. Humor was widely perceived as appropriate and seen as beneficial to care in all studies.
Conclusions: Even though humor interventions seem to be potentially useful in palliative care, descriptions evaluating their use are scarce. Overall, research on humor assessment and interventions in palliative care has remained limited in terms of quantity and quality. More research activities are needed to build a solid empirical foundation for implementing humor and laughter as part of regular palliative care activities.
Aggression at work is an expensive and widespread problem. While a large body of research has studied its antecedents and consequences, few studies have examined what victims can do to help mitigate the damage once it has occurred. Many practitioners and scholars have suggested that workers seek out humor to help them deal with the impact of stressors such as aggression, but little is known about whether humor can actually help victims deal with the psychological damage caused by aggression in the workplace. This paper presents a programmatic series of four experimental studies that examine whether and how exposure to humorous stimuli improves well-being among victims of interpersonal aggression by integrating the superiority theory of humor with Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress and coping. Study 1 (N = 84 students) showed that exposure to humor had a positive effect on well-being in a sample based in the Philippines. Consistent with theoretical prescriptions from the superiority theory of humor, this effect was mediated by increased momentary sense of power. Study 2 (N = 205 students) found the same positive effects of humor exposure on well-being in a sample based in Australia even when manipulating perpetrator power. These findings were replicated in studies 3 (N = 175 MTurk workers) and 4 (N = 235 MTurk workers) among a diverse sample of workers based in the USA.
The evidence for the effectiveness of humor-based positive psychology interventions (PPIs; i.e., interventions aimed at enhancing happiness and lowering depressive symptoms) is steadily increasing. However, little is known about who benefits most from them. We aim at narrowing this gap by examining whether personality traits and sense of humor moderate the long-term effects of humor-based interventions on happiness and depressive symptoms. We conducted two placebo-controlled online-intervention studies testing for moderation effects. In Study 1 (N = 104) we tested for moderation effects of basic personality traits (i.e., psychoticism, extraversion, and neuroticism) in the three funny things intervention, a humor-based PPI. In Study 2 (N = 632) we tested for moderation effects of the sense of humor in five different humor-based interventions. Happiness and depressive symptoms were assessed before and after the intervention, as well as after 1, 3, and 6 months. In Study 2, we assessed sense of humor before and 1 month after the intervention to investigate if changes in sense of humor go along with changes in happiness and depressive symptoms. We found moderating effects only for extraversion. Extraverts benefitted more from the three funny things intervention than introverts. For neuroticism and psychoticism no moderation effects were found. For sense of humor, no moderating effects were found for the effectiveness of the five humor-based interventions tested in Study 2. However, changes in sense of humor from pretest to the 1-month follow-up predicted changes in happiness and depressive symptoms. Taking a closer look, the playful attitude- and sense of humor-subscales predicted changes in happiness and depression for up to 6 months. Overall, moderating effects for personality (i.e., extraversion) were found, but none for sense of humor at baseline. However, increases in sense of humor during and after the intervention were associated with the interventions’ effectiveness. Thus, we found humor-based interventions to be equally suited for humorous and non-humorous people, but increases in the sense of humor during the intervention phase could serve as an indicator whether it is worth continuing the intervention in the long-term.
Objective
The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between viewing late night political humor and political participation.
Methods
We used various measures of viewership of late night talk shows and political participation in the 2012 American National Election Studies (ANES) data set.
Results
We show that viewership of “Late Night with David Letterman,” a simple form of political comedy, seems to be unrelated to political participation. However, viewership of Comedy Central's “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report,” considered by most to be genuine political satire, is associated with higher levels of political participation.
Conclusion
The results suggest that advocates of political satire may be correct when they suggest that satire mobilizes viewers to political action.
Paul McGhee, one of the most influential pioneers in the field of humor research has been engaged for decades in exploring how humor can be used for the maintenance or improvement of well-being in the face of adversity. The present paper reviews recent empirical research corroborating several of his propositions. Undeniably, the benefits of humor can be much greater when one generates his or her own humor compared to just passively consuming humor. The active use of humor can be a potent tool to successfully cope with and appropriately recover from stressful situations, especially if it becomes a habitual response to adverse circumstances. While the ice is thin with regard to any beneficial effects of humor on physical health, it certainly may enhance the quality of life of patients. The paper concludes with the general evaluation that the documented potential of humor for the maintenance of well-being is impressive, thereby rendering exaggerations and insufficiently substantiated claims of additional effects unnecessary.
Paul McGhee, one of the most influential pioneers in the field of humor research, as well as of structured humor training, has been insisting for decades that using humor can have many benefits beyond being fun, and many followed his lead. Moreover, he had always taken care to systematically collect relevant empirical, scientific evidence and to expertly evaluate it. Not all of his followers took his lead on this matter.
Riddles can teach us psychology when we stop to consider the psychological principles that make them “work”. This paper studies a particular class of riddles that we call stumpers, and provides analysis of the various principles (some familiar, some novel) that inhibit most people from finding the correct solution – or any solution – even though they find the answers obvious ex post. We restrict our analysis to four stumpers, propose the psychological antecedents of each, and provide experimental support for our conjectures. © 2018. The authors license this article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Recently, two forms of virtue-related humor, benevolent and corrective, have been introduced. Benevolent humor treats human weaknesses and wrongdoings benevolently, while corrective humor aims at correcting and bettering them. Twelve marker items for benevolent and corrective humor (the BenCor) were developed, and it was demonstrated that they fill the gap between humor as temperament and virtue. The present study investigates responses to the BenCor from 25 samples in 22 countries (overall N = 7,226). The psychometric properties of the BenCor were found to be sufficient in most of the samples, including internal consistency, unidimensionality, and factorial validity. Importantly, benevolent and corrective humor were clearly established as two positively related, yet distinct dimensions of virtue-related humor. Metric measurement invariance was supported across the 25 samples, and scalar invariance was supported across six age groups (from 18 to 50+ years) and across gender. Comparisons of samples within and between four countries (Malaysia, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK) showed that the item profiles were more similar within than between countries, though some evidence for regional differences was also found. This study thus supported, for the first time, the suitability of the 12 marker items of benevolent and corrective humor in different countries, enabling a cumulative cross-cultural research and eventually applications of humor aiming at the good.
In this paper, a parallel analysis of the enjoyment derived from humor and insight problem solving is presented with reference to a “general” Theory of the Pleasures of the Mind (TPM) (Kubovy, 1999) rather than to “local” theories regarding what makes humor and insight problem solving enjoyable. The similarity of these two cognitive activities has already been discussed in previous literature in terms of the cognitive mechanisms which underpin getting a joke or having an insight experience in a problem solving task. The paper explores whether we can learn something new about the similarities and differences between humor and problem solving by means of an investigation of what makes them pleasurable. In the first part of the paper, the framework for this joint analysis is set. Two descriptive studies are then presented in which the participants were asked to report on their experiences relating to solving visuo-spatial insight problems (Study 1) or understanding cartoons (Study 2) in terms of whether they were enjoyable or otherwise. In both studies, the responses were analyzed with reference to a set of categories inspired by the TPM. The results of Study 1 demonstrate that finding the solution to a problem is associated with a positive evaluation, and the most frequent explanations for this were reported as being Curiosity, Virtuosity and Violation of expectations. The results of Study 2 suggest that understanding a joke (Joy of verification) and being surprised by it (Feeling of surprise) were two essential conditions: when they were not present, the cartoons were perceived as not enjoyable. However, this was not enough to explain the motivations for the choice of the most enjoyable cartoons. Recognizing a Violation of expectations and experiencing a Diminishment in the cleverness or awareness initially attributed to the characters in the cartoon were the aspects which were most frequently indicated by the participants to explain why they enjoyed the joke. These findings are evaluated in the final discussion, together with their limitations and potential future developments.
Styles of humor and social skills could significantly determine a person’s functioning. This study aimed to analyze whether styles of humor and social skills correlate, and also the relation that links these variables according to gender. We employed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and the Social Skills Scale (EHS, in Spanish) to assess 643 participants. The results showed that males used styles of humor (Affiliative, Self-enhancing, Aggressive and Self-defeating) more than females. We found gender differences for social skills only in the factors Expression of disapproval (higher scores for females) and Say no and interrupt interactions (higher scores for males). The data indicate correlations among the factors styles of humor and social skills, but not in them all. When we formed groups that allowed the classification of participants according to styles of humor and social skills, females showed a more even distribution, while three of every four males obtained high levels for styles of humor (except for Self-defeating humor) and social skills (except for Making requests). The model created with styles of humor and social skills indicated an optimum fit: χ²(25) = 56.921 p < 0.001; χ²/gl =2.27; CFI = 0.97; NFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.94; RMSEA = 0.044, 95%CI (0.029–0.060), with minor gender differences in the relation between styles of humor and social skills. In conclusion, this research shows how males scored higher than females for all four humor styles and dimensions, and not only for negative humor styles as in previous research works. We found that gender differences for social skills revealed only two factors, which may be related to the use of negative humor styles (Expression of disapproval and Say no and interrupt interactions). Finally, one in every three males and two in every three females had problems in some, or several, sections to manage styles of humor and social skills. Hence we should work on this matter in classrooms. Further research on the interpersonal context of humor and the role of gender in humor styles and social skills is warranted.
Human beings inevitably experience anxiety but attempt to avoid facing it through various forms of self-deception. This avoidance can lead to pathological symptoms. Young and middle-aged adults may be especially susceptible to suffering from anxiety because they are often single-mindedly pursuing means of achieving security. For these and others who fail to embrace life with warm enthusiasm, humor can serve to alleviate stress. This article views humor as a characteristic disposition of older adults—their humor signifying a sense of integrity and wisdom that often accompanies the aging process. Humor binds together feelings of despair and joy and contributes to a faithful reframing of faith and life. This article proposes that individuals acquire humor by perceiving the world as if on a journey to an exotic new place, seeing with new eyes even the most mundane of everyday objects and events. This capacity to perceive beauty in the ordinary world reflects a wisdom of older adults potentially available even to the young.
Appreciating the humor in jokes involves incongruity-detection and resolution, which requires good language skills. Foreign language comprehension is challenging, including interpreting words within their sentence context. An implication is that jokes in a foreign language will be more difficult to understand and therefore probably less humorous, compared to native language jokes. To study this question while preserving humor across translations, jokes were selected from Turkish and English websites to minimize language play and cultural references. Turkish university students rated both Turkish and English jokes for humor. Humor for foreign language jokes was positively correlated with ease-of-understanding of specific jokes and also by the individual-differences characteristics of English proficiency and likely career investment (e.g., preparing for a future career as English teacher or translator). We propose the proficiency X investment theory: Foreign language jokes will be experienced as funnier than native language jokes when proficiency levels are high (ranging from good to excellent) and bilinguals have a high level of L2 investment. When proficiency levels are only adequate, and without special investment in L2, native language jokes will be evaluated as funnier than foreign language jokes. With intermediate proficiency and investment, jokes can be experienced as similarly humorous in the two language. Important in this pattern is the proposal that weaker L2-proficiency can trade-off with language investment to bolster L2 humor appreciation.
This analysis of political cartoon coverage of the 2016 presidential primaries found considerable attention given to the political parties themselves, as well as issues, and controversies the parties were facing. In political cartoons, the Republican and Democratic parties were usually reflected in animal representations of the elephant and donkey. A qualitative textual analysis of cartoon images from U.S. newspapers found a number of themes emerged in 2016 with regard to the party animals: Both parties were portrayed expressing reluctance or hesitancy in their party’s nominee, the Republican Party in particular was represented as helpless to stop the political success that Donald Trump saw in the primaries, and the Democratic Party was portrayed as divided between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. These themes found in political cartoon images suggest how the two dominant political parties operate in electoral politics today.
Humor ratings are provided for 4,997 English words collected from 821 participants using an online crowd-sourcing platform. Each participant rated 211 words on a scale from 1 (humorless) to 5 (humorous). To provide for comparisons across norms, words were chosen from a set common to a number of previously collected norms (e.g., arousal, valence, dominance, concreteness, age of acquisition, and reaction time). The complete dataset provides researchers with a list of humor ratings and includes information on gender, age, and educational differences. Results of analyses show that the ratings have reliability on a par with previous ratings and are not well predicted by existing norms.
The current paper addresses the measurement of three dispositions towards ridicule and laughter; i.e., gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at), gelotophilia (the joy of being laughed at), and katagelasticism (the joy of laughing at others). These traits explain inter-individual differences in responses to humor, laughter, and social situations related to humorous encounters. First, an ultra-short form of the PhoPhiKat-45 (Ruch & Proyer, 2009) was adapted in two independent samples (Construction Sample N = 157; Replication Sample N = 1774). Second, we tested the validity of the PhoPhiKat-9 in two further independent samples. Results showed that the psychometric properties of the ultra-short form were acceptable and the proposed factor structure could be replicated. In Validation Sample 1 (N = 246), we investigated the relation of the three traits to responses in a ridicule and teasing scenario questionnaire. The results replicated findings from earlier studies by showing that gelotophobes assigned the same emotions to friendly teasing and malicious ridicule (predominantly low joy, high fear, and shame). Gelotophilia was mainly predicted by relating joy to both, teasing and ridicule scenarios, while katagelasticism was predicted by assigning joy and contempt to ridicule scenarios. In Validation Sample 2 (N = 1248), we investigated whether the fear of being laughed at is a vulnerability at the workplace: If friendly teasing and laughter of co-workers, superiors or customers are misperceived as being malicious, individuals may feel less satisfied and more stressed. The results from a representative sample of Swiss employees showed that individuals with a fear of being laughed at are generally less satisfied with life and work and experience more work stress. Moreover, gelotophilia went along with positive evaluations of one’s life and work, while katagelasticism was negatively related to work satisfaction and positively related to work stress. In order to establish good work practices and build procedures against workplace bullying, one needs to consider that individual differences impact on a person’s perception of being bullied and assessing the three dispositions may give important insights into team processes.
We investigated how readers make sense of homophone puns (e.g., The butcher was very glad we could meat up) by tracking their eye movements as they read. Comparison sentences included homophone-error sentences in which the presented homophone was also not correct (e.g., The lawyer was very glad we could meat up) and sentences in which the homophone was correct for the context (e.g., The butcher was very glad to chop meat up for the stew). An effect of the frequency of the unpresented homophone mate (e.g., meet) was found on first-pass reading times for homophones, indicating that participants activated the meaning of the homophone mate through shared phonology. First-fixation and gaze durations on the homophones were longer in puns than in correct-context sentences, indicating that participants immediately noticed that the homophone was incongruous with the adjacent context (e.g., glad we could meat) in puns, but total reading times did not differ, suggesting that the incongruity was quickly resolved. Immediate reading times on homophone in puns and homophone-error sentences did not differ, but total reading times did, suggesting that the impact of the critical context word (e.g., butcher) is delayed. Further analyses examined the resolution process in more detail. Ratings of the funniness of the puns were most strongly related to the strength of the association between the homophone and the critical context word (e.g., butcher).
This volume brings together the current approaches to the definition and measurement of the sense of humor and its components. It provides both an overview of historic approaches and a compendium of current humor inventories and humor traits that have been studied. Presenting the only available overview and analysis of this significant facet of human behavior, this volume will interest researchers from the fields of humor and personality studies as well as those interested in the clinical or abstract implications of the subject. © 1998 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., D-10785 Berlin. All rights reserved.
Humor is a commonly used communication tool in advertising in the United States, but U.S. marketers know little about its use and effectiveness in foreign markets. Such limited knowledge hinders international managers’ ability to determine which aspects of humorous communications are likely to be amenable to global standardization and which should be adapted to local expectations. The authors examine the content of humorous television advertising from four national cultures: Korea, Germany, Thailand, and the United States. Findings indicate that humorous communications from such diverse national cultures share certain universal cognitive structures underlying the message. However, the specific content of humorous advertising is likely to be variable across national cultures along major normative dimensions such as collectivism-individualism.
All published research examining effects of humor and laughter on physical health is reviewed. Potential causal mechanisms and methodological issues are discussed. Laboratory experiments have shown some effects of exposure to comedy on several components of immunity, although the findings are inconsistent and most of the studies have methodological problems. There is also some evidence of analgesic effects of exposure to comedy, although similar findings are obtained with negative emotions. Few significant correlations have been found between trait measures of humor and immunity, pain tolerance, or self-reported illness symptoms. There is also little evidence of stress-moderating effects of humor on physical health variables and no evidence of increased longevity with greater humor. More rigorous and theoretically informed research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about possible health benefits of humor and laughter.
There is considerable interest in understanding the emotional effects of alcohol. While a great deal of experimental research has focused on alcohol’s ability to relieve negative emotions, there has been far less focus on the effects of alcohol on positive emotions. Further, the available research on positive emotion tends to test alcohol while participants are alone. Yet alcohol is often consumed in social settings, and enhancing social pleasure is consistently identified as being a primary motive for drinking. We aimed to address this gap in the literature by investigating the impact of alcohol on positive emotional experience in a social setting. We used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to examine in a large sample the effects of alcohol on response to comedy in a group setting. Five hundred thirteen social drinkers (51.9% female) were assembled into groups of three unacquainted persons and administered either a moderate dose of alcohol, a placebo, or a nonalcohol control beverage. Following beverage consumption, groups listened to a roughly 5-min comedy clip while their facial expressions were video recorded. More than 5 million frames of video were then FACS-coded. Alcohol consumption enhanced enjoyment (Duchenne) smiles—but not nonenjoyment social smiles—and elevated mood ratings. Results provide multimodal evidence supporting the ability of alcohol to enhance positive emotional experience during a comedy routine delivered in a social context. More broadly, this research illustrates the value of studying emotion in a social context using both self-report and behavior-expressive approaches.
Over the past couple of decades, there has been an increasing focus on positive psychology in both the popular media and the scientific literature. Prior to this time, the predominant focus has been on what is aberrant or deficient, and how to ameliorate problems or dysfunction (i.e., a psychopathology orientation). Indeed, my own research has focused on cognitive vulnerability to depression and how we can understand and modify underlying core beliefs and cognitive structures. In this article, I deviate from my own “comfort zone” to highlight some key concepts related to understanding what makes life fulfilling and meaningful. Specific lessons from research in the areas of happiness, passion, humour styles, thinking with evidence, self-compassion, mindfulness/acceptance, taking risks, and interpersonal connectedness are reviewed. Throughout this article, I highlight how Canadian psychological science has contributed in important ways to helping us to live more fully.
Humor research has developed along a trajectory, and branched out in many directions, that were foreseen and stimulated by Paul McGhee. From his initial interest in children’s humor and cognitive development as a graduate student at Ohio State University to his work applying humor in myriad settings, McGhee has broadened our understanding of humor and expanded its horizons. As early as the 1970s, Paul expressed interest in the neuropsychology of humor and laughter and in the evolution of humor in nonhuman primates. The development and validation of the Sense of Humor Scale is an integral part of the 7 Humor Habits Program used effectively to train humor skills. McGhee played an early role in advocating humor and laughter as a learnable tool in the promotion of health and well-being, and in the training of health-care personnel. His work has been recognized through various Lifetime Achievements awards and other honors.
The current study tested the 7 Humor Habits Program after McGhee (1996, Health, healing, and the amuse system (2. edition): Humor as survival training. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt Publishing; 2010, Humor as survival training for a stressed-out world: The 7 Humor Habits Program. Bloomington, IN: Author House) in two groups receiving the eight-week training (group sessions; one group additionally completing “Home Play” exercises and one group without Home Play) compared to two control groups (a placebo humor group and a waiting control group). The total sample of 110 adults completed measures on the sense of humor, the temperamental basis of the sense of humor, and life satisfaction at three time points: directly before and after the training time, as well as at a two-month follow up. Additionally, peer-ratings on the sense of humor were collected. At each session, the humor-related mood (state cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood) was assessed before and after the session. Results show that the sense of humor is malleable, noticeable to the trained individuals as well as to peers (but not in the placebo humor group). The sessions increased cheerful mood and decreased seriousness. Life satisfaction generally increased from the pre-training phase to the post-training phase. To conclude, humor can be trained but more work on consolidation strategies are needed in future studies and intervention designs.
This is a continuation of Part I. Section 2 of that part (“Humor and the Body”) should be read before reading reports of the studies described below. Understanding the methods and experiments in this part is, perhaps, easier than making sense of them. As mentioned at the outset of Part 1, the relationship of the brain to humor, smiling, and laugher is but one tiny aspect of the vastly larger mind-body problem that has yet to be fruitfully addressed. What follows is a listing of technical findings that are probably mostly true, but the deeper sense of which remains largely mysterious.
McGhee (1996, Health, healing and the amuse system: Humor as survival training. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt; 1999, Health, healing and the amuse system: Humor as survival training (3rd edition). Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt) proposed a model of the sense of humor including the six “humor skills” of enjoyment of humor, laughter, verbal humor, finding humor in everyday life, laughing at yourself, and humor under stress, measured with the Sense of Humor Scale (SHS). The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the SHS (revised version from 1999) and to develop a parallel form of the SHS to double the amount of items for each humor skill. Combing these two forms should yield reliable and factorially valid scales of the six humor skills. Participants in two online studies (n=315 and 542) completed the SHS and its parallel form, along with measures of various outcomes. The psychometric properties of the SHS were of mixed quality, and those of the parallel form were uniformly good. The parallel-test reliability was sufficiently high to regard the two scales as parallel versions. Combining the two measures resulted in reliable and distinguishable scales of the six humor skills. All humor skills correlated positively with humor-related attitude and mood, cheerfulness, and life satisfaction. Importantly, they spanned different dimensions of the sense of humor, underscoring the usefulness of each humor skill.
This article asks what psychic functions humorous alcohol advertisements employ and how they are connected to the wider cultural meanings of alcohol. The material comprises 27 advertisements televised in Europe in 2013. The material is primarily examined using Freud’s ideas regarding the psychogenesis of jokes. Freud’s conceptions of humor provide in-depth point of views to understand how the advertisements address the viewer’s mind. We recognized three psychic processes: the pleasure of nonsense, recognition of the familiar, and liquidation of criticism. We argue that these are essential psychic activities which characterize the more or less unconscious functioning and content of humorous alcohol advertisements. The article suggests that the humorous strategies recall the infantile pleasure connected to playing with language. The humor in alcohol advertisements may also liquidate the critical attitudes toward drinking, enforce the process of denial of addiction and prohibit the reality-based reflection of alcohol use.
We conducted three studies to test our overarching hypothesis that racial humor may increase or decrease subsequent expressions of prejudice by setting social norms that indicate prejudice is either more or less acceptable, respectively. We selected riddles that were disparaging, confrontational, or neutral, and examined their effects on subsequent prejudiced expressions. We predicted humor that disparaged Blacks would convey that prejudiced expressions are more socially acceptable, resulting in increased expressions of prejudice toward Blacks. Conversely, we predicted humor that confronted prejudiced expressions would convey that prejudiced expressions are less socially acceptable, resulting instead in reduced expressions of prejudice toward Blacks. Our studies demonstrated that, consistent with prejudiced norm theory, disparagement humor, and confrontational humor perceived as disparaging, has the potential to disinhibit expressions of prejudice when used, even in brief social interactions. Our studies also showed that individuals often misinterpreted the subversive nature of confrontational humor, frequently perceiving the confrontation intended to challenge expressions of prejudice as instead intending to disparage Blacks. Thus, while it is possible racial humor may have the potential to tighten norms inhibiting prejudice, the perceptions of confrontational jokes as disparaging may result in jokes (created to subvert and inhibit prejudice) ironically reinforcing prejudiced responding.
Humour can be utilised to mark out the boundaries of social groups, to produce and restore dignity, but also to produce contempt, marginalise and exclude. Humour and ridicule can be used to influence hierarchies and positioning among children in the classroom and it can have strong effects in school groups saturated with bullying practices. Ridicule appears to be widespread, very much feared, and not easily amenable to adult interventions. With this article, I look into the many and frequently subtle ways humour intertwines itself in relational practices among children, with a particular focus on children in groups plagued by bullying and social tension. I focus on the entanglement of humour in the complex manoeuvrings that characterise children's worlds, and the subtle mechanisms involved in the self-regulation of their communities in and outside schools. The analyses and analytical understanding that I develop are grounded in qualitative data such as interviews with children and extensive observation in schools and in after school care.
This project explores how appreciation for, and comprehension of, ironic and exaggerated satire is related to political ideology. Drawing upon literature from communication, political psychology, and humor research, we explain how the psychological profiles of conservatives may render them less motivated to process and appreciate certain forms of humor compared to liberals. We test these propositions with an experiment that employs a two condition within-subjects experiment on a national sample (N = 305) to assess appreciation and comprehension of ironic and exaggerated humor among liberals and conservatives. Mediating effects of psychological traits are tested. Findings suggest that conservatives are less appreciative of both irony and exaggeration than liberals. In both cases, the effect is explained in part by lower sense of humor and need for cognition found among conservative participants. Results are explored in terms of the implications for political discourse, political polarization, and democratic practices.
Numerous behavioral studies and a handful of functional neuroimaging studies have reported sex differences in humor. However, no study to date has examined differences in the time-course of brain activity during multistage humor processing between the sexes. The purpose of this study was to compare real-time dynamics related to humor processing between women and men, with reference to a proposed three-stage model (involving incongruity detection, incongruity resolution, and elaboration stages). Forty undergraduate students (20 women) underwent event-related potential recording while subjectively rating 30 question-answer-type jokes and 30 question-answer-type statements in a random order. Sex differences were revealed by analyses of the mean amplitudes of difference waves during a specific time window between 1000 and 1300 ms poststimulus onset (P1000-1300). This indicates that women recruited more mental resources to integrate cognitive and emotional components at this late stage. In contrast, men recruited more automated processes during the transition from the cognitive operations of the incongruity resolution stage to the emotional response of the humor elaboration stage. Our results suggest that sex differences in humor processing lie in differences in the integration of cognitive and emotional components, which are closely linked and interact reciprocally, particularly in women.
The current research examined whether social power affects what people find funny. In two experiments, participants’ psychological state of social power was experimentally manipulated and their evaluations of offensive jokes were assessed. Results showed that participants in a psychological state of high power – as compared to low power – evaluated offensive jokes as less inappropriate, less offensive, and funnier. Mediation analyses showed that power increased the funniness of offensive jokes through decreasing the perceived inappropriateness of these jokes. Implications for research on power and humor are discussed.
Objective:
This study assessed the unique coping strategies of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals in the United States used to manage gender-related stress, and examined associations between specific coping profiles and mental health.
Methods:
Data were from 316 participants in the 2014-2015 Transgender Stress and Health Study, an online study of TGNC mental and sexual health. A factor analysis of the coping measure (Brief COPE) was followed by a k-means cluster analysis to evaluate distinct profiles of coping with gender-related stress. Proportional odds models and logistic regression models indicated how coping profiles related to levels of self-reported depressive symptoms and suicidality.
Results:
A 4-factor structure was identified with three distinct profiles of coping with gender-related stress, each representative of the frequency (high or low) in which participants used functional and dysfunctional coping strategies: (a) high-functional/low-dysfunctional, (b) high-functional/high-dysfunctional, and (c) low-functional/low-dysfunctional. There were significant differences in depressive symptoms and suicidality based on distinct gender-related coping profiles. The high-functional/high-dysfunctional group reported significantly poorer mental health compared with the high-functional/low-dysfunctional group.
Conclusion:
To improve mental health outcomes in TGNC individuals, health providers and researchers should strive to not only promote functional coping strategies for managing gender-related stress but also decrease dysfunctional coping strategies.
Background and objectives:
Focusing on sex, the most salient topic featured in ageist jokes, this study aims at exploring the extent to which seniors' own humor reflects common ageist stereotypes or rather echoes contemporary consumer society representations of seniors' sexuality.
Research design and methods:
The study was based on a quantitative content analysis of 300 humorous sex-related messages posted during one full year by members of 14 leading online communities for seniors.
Results:
Findings indicated that whereas the portrayal of older adults in humor typically relied on negative ageist stereotypes, their representation in seniors' online sex-related humor depended on the social identity of the butt of this humor. If it was an in-group member (oneself, another community member, or the community as a whole), the portrayal was rather positive, but when the butt belonged to the out-group (older adults in general), the depiction was far more ageist. Nonetheless, the representation of older butts of humor was generally more positive than that of the younger ones.
Discussion and implications:
These findings suggest that seniors tend to identify with current cultural representations of sexuality in later life and use sex-related humor as a personal means of resisting ageism. They apply two principal strategies: Distancing-reproducing certain ageist stereotypes by ascribing them to other older adults, but less so to their own group and even less than that to themselves-and equalizing older and younger individuals, even according the former an advantage regarding sexuality.
Three studies examined humor and adjustment to stressful events. In Study 1, patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (N = 22) reported on mental and physical adjustment, social interaction, and reappraisal of their illness. Dispositional humor was associated with reduced distress and fewer physical symptoms. Study 2 (N = 109) examined undergraduates’ reports of stressful events. Dispositional, self-enhancing, affiliative, and self-defeating humor showed direct effects on distress, which were mediated by social interaction and reappraisal. Moreover, dispositional and aggressive humor showed stress-buffering effects. Study 3 (N = 105) examined undergraduates’ adjustment to the September 11, 2001, attacks at 1 and 3 months postattack. At T1, affiliative humor showed a stress-buffering effect on distress. Social interaction mediated the relation of self-enhancing humor with reduced T1 distress, and mediated relations of aggressive and self-defeating humor with greater distress. Relations of T1 dispositional and self-defeating humor to changes in T2 distress were mediated by reappraisal.
Von Economo neurons (VENs) are a recently evolved cell type which may be involved in the fast intuitive assessment of complex situations. As such, they could be part of the circuitry supporting human social networks. We propose that the VENs relay an output of fronto-insular and anterior cingulate cortex to the parts of frontal and temporal cortex associated with theory-of-mind, where fast intuitions are melded with slower, deliberative judgments. The VENs emerge mainly after birth and increase in number until age 4 yrs. We propose that in autism spectrum disorders the VENs fail to develop normally, and that this failure might be partially responsible for the associated social disabilities that result from faulty intuition.
Investigated the problem of self-aimed humor by examining the case of Jews and Arabs in Israel. Study 1, with 80 Jewish and 60 Arab high school seniors, dealt with preferences of jokes. Ss were asked to rate the funniness of 5 jokes with a Jewish butt and 5 jokes with an Arab butt. Jews preferred jokes with an Arab butt, as did the Arabs who felt positively toward Israel, but not those whose attitudes were negative. Study 2, with 139 Jewish and 111 Arab high school seniors, dealt with the production of humor. Ss were asked to respond humorously to 13 cartoonlike drawings depicting an Arab and a Jew in conversation. Both Jews and Arabs expressed more aggression toward an Arab butt. When humorous answers toward the Ss themselves and toward subgroups within each group were compared, no differences between Jews and Arabs were found. The only difference found was in a special kind of self-aimed humor, in which aggression is turned inward but the situation is denied, and the S finds a humorous way to benefit from it. Jews used this kind of humor more often. (29 ref)
• A classification of children's riddles was constructed, and 2 studies were conducted to test an implied developmental sequence of comprehension. In Exp I, riddles and jokes were collected and classified from 575 children of Grades 1–8 and Grade 10. As predicted, riddles based on conceptual tricks were most popular for the youngest Ss; riddles based on language ambiguity, for intermediate ages; and riddles based on absurdity, for the oldest groups. In Exp II, 208 Ss of Grades 1, 3, 6, 10, and college freshmen were presented with selected riddles from the 3 riddle categories to test for the predicted sequence of comprehension. Comprehension was measured by assessing the S's explanations of riddle answers and performance on a multiple-choice task. S's guesses to riddle questions and memory of the riddle answers were also recorded. Results show that explanations of the riddles were mostly justifications, in which the S demonstrated how the answer of the riddle was plausible. Ss were less likely to explain how the riddle was tricky. Guesses to the riddle questions were mostly realistic, particularly for the younger Ss. Memory of riddle answers was good for all grades, virtually perfect by Grade 6. Results show a general confirmation of the predictions for the classification. Conceptual-trick riddles were comprehended first, language ambiguity riddles at an intermediate age, and absurd riddles were comprehended only by the oldest Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
• A classification of children's riddles was constructed, and 2 studies were conducted to test an implied developmental sequence of comprehension. In Exp I, riddles and jokes were collected and classified from 575 children of Grades 1–8 and Grade 10. As predicted, riddles based on conceptual tricks were most popular for the youngest Ss; riddles based on language ambiguity, for intermediate ages; and riddles based on absurdity, for the oldest groups. In Exp II, 208 Ss of Grades 1, 3, 6, 10, and college freshmen were presented with selected riddles from the 3 riddle categories to test for the predicted sequence of comprehension. Comprehension was measured by assessing the S's explanations of riddle answers and performance on a multiple-choice task. S's guesses to riddle questions and memory of the riddle answers were also recorded. Results show that explanations of the riddles were mostly justifications, in which the S demonstrated how the answer of the riddle was plausible. Ss were less likely to explain how the riddle was tricky. Guesses to the riddle questions were mostly realistic, particularly for the younger Ss. Memory of riddle answers was good for all grades, virtually perfect by Grade 6. Results show a general confirmation of the predictions for the classification. Conceptual-trick riddles were comprehended first, language ambiguity riddles at an intermediate age, and absurd riddles were comprehended only by the oldest Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Objective:
This study examined whether therapists' honesty, humor style, playfulness, and creativity would retrospectively predict the outcomes of therapies ended five years earlier.
Method:
In the Jerusalem-Haifa study, 29 therapists treated 70 clients in dynamic psychotherapy for 1 year. The Outcome Questionnaire 45 scores were collected at five time points. Five years later, the therapists were contacted via email and asked to fill out honesty, humor styles, playfulness, and creativity self-report questionnaires. Five were excluded since they had only one client in the study each. The remaining 24 therapists treated 65 clients out of whom 20 therapists with 54 clients completed the questionnaires.
Results:
Therapists' Aggressive Humor Style (AHS) was a significant negative predictor of clients' symptom change over time. The therapists' honesty scores were positively correlated with symptom change. That is, higher AHS therapists were more effective, while higher honesty therapists were less effective.
Conclusions:
Therapists' inferred traits of Honesty-Humility and AHS may influence the effectiveness of their treatments.