Humor Styles and their Relationship to Well-Being among the Gifted

Abstract

The present study examined the extent to which a sample of 202 gifted individuals (members of Mensa) engaged in four humor styles and the extent to which these humor styles were related to their well-being. These results were compared to a comparative population sample (n = 265). Results showed that gifted individuals most often used positive humor styles. There were no within sex differences in the use of humor styles between the gifted sample and the comparative population sample. Men (in both samples), however, used aggressive humor more than women. Self-enhancing humor (+) and self-defeating humor (-) were related most consistently to well-being across sub-samples. For men, significant differences were found between the two samples with regard to the relations between humor styles and well-being: Affiliative and self-enhancing humor related positively and substantially to well-being in men from the comparative population sample, but not in men from the gifted sample.