An examination of university students’ perceptions of physicians’ humor usage, source credibility, and fear of physician

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study examined university students’ (N = 237) ratings of their primary care physicians’ humor usage (identification and differentiation), credibility, and fear of physician. Participants reported physician identification humor to be a positive predictor of physician credibility and a negative predictor of fear of physician. Conversely, participants reported physician differentiation humor to be a negative predictor of physician credibility and a positive predictor of fear of physician. The study offers support for the continuum perspective of humor through empirical observations. Based on the study’s results, the author proposes recommendations for humor enactment in the physician-patient relationship.