Humor Style and Creativity Tendency of Senior High School Students of Tujia Ethnic Group in China

Abstract

To explore humor style and creativity tendency of senior high school students of Tujia, a Chinese ethnic group, and the relation between the two in Chinese ethnic culture, 127 Tujia high school students and 124 Han ones were selected to complete Humor Styles Questionnaire and Creativity Assessment Packet. The study questionnaires were administered in a classroom setting when participants were attending their classes. The results show that: 1) Tujia school students prefer affiliative and self-enhancing humor. Among them, urban male students and rural female students exhibit a greater tendency to engage in self-enhancing humor, while urban female students are relatively weak; first grade senior high school students from the city prefer maladaptive aggressive humor. Between Tujia and Han students, the former ones are more prone to engage in self-enhancing humor and less prone to engage in aggressive humor than their Han counterparts. 2) Creativity tendency of Tujia students is at a good level, especially inquisitiveness and adventure. In terms of overall performance and adventure, Tujia students fare better than the students of Han ethnicity, and then the first-grade students stand out among the Tujia students. 3) There is a significant positive correlation between humor style and creativity tendency in the Tujia groups. The affiliative humor style is associated with higher levels of creativity.