Humor and personality: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the comic styles markers and its relationships with the big five personality traits

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Comic Style Markers (CSM; assessing fun, humor, nonsense, wit, irony, satire, sarcasm, and cynicism) and explore the relationship between the eight comic styles and the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience). The data were collected online from 607 Italian-speaking volunteer participants (214 men and 393 women, age 18 to 77 years; M = 36.50 years; SD = 13.28). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the eight-factor structure. Results showed that the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the scales were generally acceptable, and intercorrelations among the scales ranged from low (between cynicism and fun) to high (between sarcasm and satire). The correlations between the Big Five personality traits and the eight comic styles showed that openness to experience was positively related to all eight styles. Low agreeableness was the best predictor of the darker styles, and extraversion was mainly related to the lighter styles. Neuroticism correlated negatively with humor and wit, and positively with sarcasm and cynicism. Conscientiousness was negatively related to fun, nonsense, irony, and cynicism. The results indicated a fairly good performance of the Italian version of the CSM, which was proved to be an adequate assessment instrument for investigating further relationships among several personality traits in the Italian population.