Good Sense Of Humor Research Articles

Le sens caché: usages de l’allégorie du Moyen Âge au XVIIͤ siècle éd. par Francine Wild

en fait une nouvelle forme de tragédie pour l’idéal passionnel. À la Belle Epoque, la romancière Camille Pert l’accuse de compromettre les différences de genre et de classe. Témoignant d’une profonde érudition, apportant une grande attention aux contextes idéologiques et biographiques, cet essai sans équivalent, aux analyses perspicaces, aux enjeux précis, à l’écriture claire et non départie d’humour, offre une lecture aussi enrichissante qu’agréable. New York University Claudie Bernard Wild, Francine, éd. Le sens caché: usages de l’allégorie du Moyen Âge au XVIIe siècle. Arras: Artois PU, 2013. ISBN 978-2-84832-178-3. Pp. 248. 20 a. The reading of allegory, a hugely popular form of entertainment in the medieval period and beyond, is now something of a lost art. This volume includes readings of allegorical representations from a variety of literary genres spanning periods from the thirteenth through the seventeenth century. Huguette Legros walks the reader through a relatively little known medieval allegory by Raoul de Houdenc, Le songe d’enfer, with particular attention to the figure of the traveler who narrates his journey, and whom she identifies directly with de Houdenc. She argues that the allegory parodies the traditional genre on which it is modeled, and that de Houdenc subtly manipulates the allegory to validate his creative freedom and his status as ménestral. Chantal Liaroutzos, working, by way of illustration, with the sixth book of Amadis de Gaule (1545) highlights significant differences between the medieval period and the sixteenth century concerning the use of allegory, focusing especially on the merveille. This element, as she points out, is typically associated in medieval allegory with a mystical, religious signification. By the sixteenth century, the merveille has been desanctified, reduced to a special effect intended to dazzle, amuse, or entertain the spectator/reader. She sees Cervantes’s parody of allegory in Don Quijote as a logical extension of a process of demystification that is already well underway by the middle of the sixteenth century. While the first section of the study focuses on allegorical narrative of the medieval period through the sixteenth century,the second section concerns theatrical representations of an allegorical nature, mainly from the sixteenth century. Estelle Doudet discusses the jeux moraux, a genre that flourished between 1430 and 1560, with allegorical characters representing Vérité, Justice, Péché, Humanité, among others. These allegorical dramatizations serve the same didactic function as homiletic discourse, but are intended perhaps for a broader, less sophisticated audience, endowing moral abstractions with tangibility and, occasionally, even a certain humor. Doudet views these allegorical plays not as a stable, well established literary genre, but as an evolving, dynamic series of theatrical experiments. The third major section of the book brings the study of allegory into the seventeenth century, with the final chapter focusing on the ambitious, 11,000-verse work by Jean Desmarests, Clovis ou la France chrétienne 276 FRENCH REVIEW 89.1 Reviews 277 (1657). Francine Wild argues that allegorical representation is still alive by the middle of the seventeenth century, but, at least in the case of this particular epic poem, imitates the tragi-comédie and the novel, in terms of tone and length, in order to compete successfully against these popular genres. As a study in the evolution of allegorical representation through five centuries of French literature, reflecting a surprising diversity of genres,subtexts,and authorial intentions,this volume represents an important contribution. University of North Carolina, Greensboro David A. Fein Society and Culture edited by Zakaria Fatih Alexander, William. Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me & Nearly Broke My Heart. Chapel Hill: Algonquin, 2014. ISBN 978-1-61620020 -6. Pp. 266. $15.95. This memoir was authored by a passionate 57-year-old American with a good sense of humor who embarks on a quest to learn French. This fun read starts with a declaration of love to the French language and culture and then traces the author’s tribulations as he sets out to accomplish the unrealistic goal of mastering French in just one year. The first half of the book deals with his exasperating attempts at...

Sense of Humor, Stable Affect, and Psychological Well-Being

A good sense of humor has been implicated as a quality that could contribute to psychological well-being. The mechanisms through which sense of humor might operate include helping to reappraise threats, serving as a character strength, or facilitating happiness. The current research attempts to integrate these possibilities by examining whether a good sense of humor might operate globally by helping to maintain a more stable positive affect. Stable positive affect has been shown to facilitate more effective problem solving and to build resilience. However, not all humor is adaptive humor, so we also examine the roles that different styles of humor use might play. Individual differences in humor styles were used to predict stable levels of affect. Then, in a longitudinal design, humor styles and stable affect were used to predict subsequent resilience and psychological health. The results indicated that stable affect was related to resilience and psychological well-being, and that a sense of humor that involves self-enhancing humor, humor based on maintaining a humorous perspective about one’s experiences, was positively related to stable positive affect, negatively related to stable negative affect, and was mediated through stable affect in influencing resilience, well-being and distress. Thus, while a good sense of humor can lead to greater resilience and better psychological health, the current results, focusing on stable affect, find only self-enhancing humor provides reliable benefits.

Use of Humour in Classroom Teaching: Students’ Perspectives

Background: Humor is a valuable tool for establishing a conducive environment in classroom learning. From the teachers’ point of view, “how” to teach effectively is a challenging task. It demands creativity and imagination to capture students’ attention and interest in one’s teaching. From students’ point of view, a monotonous lecture would hinder their interest to concentrate in the classroom. Objectives: The present study had two objectives; firstly to explore students’ perspectives on the use of humor in classroom teaching and secondly to explore students’ perspectives regarding teachers, using humor in classroom teaching. Materials and Methods: Students were requested to respond to two questionnaires focusing on items related to the use of humor in classroom teaching, on a 4-point Likert scale (4 = Strongly agree; 3 = Agree; 2 = Disagree; 1 = Strongly disagree). Data were summarized using median grade with interquartile range (IQR). Frequency analysis of the responses was performed and agreement to each item was calculated by adding the frequencies of strongly agree and agree responses. Disagreement to each item was calculated by adding the frequencies of strongly disagree and disagree responses. Results: Students (n = 157; 97.5%) opined that humor if incorporated appropriately in classroom teaching is a good thing and also helps in better retention of the topic being taught (n = 141; 75.15%). Majority of students (n = 158; 98.12%) responded that use of humor in classroom teaching facilitates a good teacher-student relationship. Majority of students (n = 146; 90.67%) also felt that having a good sense of humor is an attribute of an effective teacher. Conclusions: The present study revealed that students prefer humor to be integrated into classroom teaching. The thoughtful use of humor fosters better teacher-student relationship which might culminate in better student learning.

A GOOD TEACHER – MEDICAL STUDENTS VIEWS

Lectures have been the most common form of teaching and learning since ancient times. Success of lecturing sessions is inextricably linked with the excellent teaching process. The objective of our study was to find out medical students views about good teacher.The study instrument was a self-administered questionnaire. The study design was cross sectional. 86 pre-clinical M.B.B.S students volunteered to take part in the study. The questionnaire required the respondents to rate 15 parameters and responses were based on a 5 point Likertscale. Descriptive statistics was used for analysis of data and results were expressed as percentage. Among females, majority 30 (63.9%) agreed for use of technology by teachers followed by 29(61.8%) strongly agreeing for teacher summarizing topic at the end of the class, 28(59.7%) for teacher to use simple language and 27(57.4%) for teacher to have good sense of humour. Among males, majority 36 (92.16%) strongly agreed for teacher to have good sense of humour followed by 29(74.3%) for teacher summarising topic at the end of the lecture, 27(69.1%) for teacher to have command on subject. Students views should be considered and follow up studies should be carried out so that appropriate changes in teaching style can be made to justify the place of lecture as a mode of instruction in undergraduate medical education.

Sense of Humor and Its Association with Psychological Disturbances Among Dental Students in India

Although the health benefits of humor and the potential advantages of having a good Sense of Humor (SoH) have been long recognized, they have not been investigated in dental students. The aim of this study was to assess the extent and demographic correlates of SoH in dental students and its association with their self-reported level of psychological disturbances. Six hundred and five students (age 20.3±1.83 years, 250 males, 355 females) from two dental schools in India anonymously completed the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the intergroup differences based on gender and year of study, respectively. The association between SoH and each of the three negative affective states was evaluated with multiple linear regressions. The mean MSHS score of the sample was 59.65±11.77. Male students showed a marginally higher SoH than females (60.78 vs. 58.86, p<0.05). The level of SoH steadily improved along the course duration, with statistically significant increases in the third and fifth years of study. SoH was negatively associated with all three negative affective states and explained nearly 3 to 5 percent of their variance. These results warrant further inquiry on the correlates of SoH in dental students, the psychosocial roles of humor, and their application in improving the psychological climate in dental schools.

I'll Meet You in Your Dreams

In May 2012, we received a telephone call from a colleague at a regional cancer center. She asked whether we could admit a patient to our hospice—a man with relapsed, metastatic oral cancer and a life expectancy of only a few weeks. She seemed hesitant while describing the patient’s history. “This is a complicated case, from the medical as well as the psychological point of view. Dealing with the family won’t be easy. But we have to discharge him, and your hospice is the closest to his native village.” To care for patients throughout the whole course of their illness and until their eventual death, our oncology unit includes an inpatient hospice, one of the only such facilities in our region of Italy. As a result, we often receive requests for admission of patients we do not know, many with complicated medical and relational challenges. All too often, these patients tell us that they were caught off guard by being sent to a hospice, and they arrive too late for optimal clinical management. On the basis of our colleague’s description, we guessed that this patient, too, did not know his prognosis and would be unprepared to transition to a phase of palliative care only. Mr T turned out to be a wealthy and charming 45-year-old man, born and raised in Italy, who, approximately 15 years earlier, had started a business in Romania. He had been living with a Romanian woman, and the couple had a young daughter. Six months before we met him, he had undergone surgical resection and standard chemotherapy for his malignancy in Romania, but when his cancer rapidly recurred and progressed, he decided to return to Italy, hoping for more effective therapy. Three months before he was referred to our hospice, the cancer spread to the left side of his face and lymph nodes. In a desperate attempt to eradicate his disease, he underwent radical surgery to remove large parts of his face, followed by reconstructive surgery using two flaps of skin from his chest. He also required two subsequent interventions to repair surgical complications, after which his facial features were significantly altered. Despite these aggressive surgeries, the cancer quickly recurred again and progressed rapidly, eroding into the bones in the skull. He received palliative radiotherapy, but cure was no longer possible. And so Mr T was sent to our hospice. He was able to see only with one eye and could do that only by lifting his ptotic eyelid with his fingers. Skin and lymph node metastases were visible in his neck and chest. He required frequent aspiration of pus-like secretions from his tracheostomy and was fed through a gastrostomy. He could still walk for a few steps with some help, and his pain was adequately controlled by a continuous infusion of morphine. No longer able to speak, he was forced to communicate in writing, but what he wrote made it clear that his mental status was still normal. As we had anticipated, despite all that he had been through, the patient seemed unaware of the rapid and irreversible worsening of his clinical condition. He informed us that he had not been told by the referring hospital that he was going to die, but rather that the goal of this admission was to help him recover from damage caused by the palliative radiotherapy. It was painful to watch Mr T ask about all the details of his care plan with the idea that he could still be cured. More than anything, he wanted to get well enough to go back home to his 8-year-old daughter in Romania, even though he realized that this was outside his grasp at the time he arrived. Mr T was an ambitious and intelligent man, with a good sense of humor. When we asked him to suggest how we could reduce the lengthy, intrusive visits of an overzealous family member, for instance, he replied by making a hand gesture that mimed shooting her with a pistol. Despite his physical limitations, he was charming toward the hospice personnel, paying special attention to young female nurses. Of course his face was not even close to what used to be—but he would often show an old picture of himself before the disease, as a reminder of his past as a Latin lover. Walking by his room, we would sometimes catch him sitting on the edge his bed, with his elbow leaning on the bedside table and his fingers lifting his paralyzed eyelid, staring at his destroyed face in a mirror. We wondered how he could possibly cope with such a devastating change of his appearance. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY A R T O F O N C O L O G Y VOLUME 31 NUMBER 4 FEBRUARY 1 2013

You Can’t Just Wear Socks

You Can’t Just Wear Socks

The Terms on Which Jews and Muslims Join Western Civilization

The Terms on Which Jews and Muslims Join Western Civilization

Dog and Wolf

Dog and Wolf Catherine Filloux (bio) Entre chien et loup [between dog and wolf] is a multi-layered expression. It is used to describe a specific time of day, just before night, when the light is so dim you can’t distinguish a dog from a wolf. However, it’s not all about levels of light. It also expresses that limit between the familiar, the comfortable versus the unknown and the dangerous (or between the domestic and the wild). It is an uncertain threshold between hope and fear. Céline Graciet Production Notes Play is performed in one act, without an intermission. We move fluidly between locales with lights and sounds. Lana, her killer, and dream characters are heard as voice-overs. Cast of Characters Jasmina (pronounced Yas-MEE-nah), forties, a human rights worker and refugee from Bosnia; rebellious, traumatized, has a sense of style, with an Eastern European accent. (Her other name, Fatima, is pronounced Fah-TEE-mah.) Joseph , fifties, a U.S. immigration attorney; in control, tough, good sense of humor, transformative, wheelchair-bound. Judge / Mother / Waitress , a U.S. circuit court judge; a mother and a waitress who are both Eastern European. Lana , Jasmina’s deceased sister. Man , Lana’s killer. Scene One Joseph, seated in his wheelchair, is going through an application form in his office. Jasmina begins to light a cigarette. joseph There’s no smoking in here! jasmina I will need the cigarette. joseph Sorry. It says here your name is “Fatima”? [He mispronounces it.] [End Page 57] jasmina No. joseph What is your legal name? jasmina [Correcting his pronunciation.] Fatima. [She appeals to his vulnerability.] This question would require for me to have a cigarette . . . joseph Well, didn’t you read the warning from the Surgeon General? It causes cancer. jasmina [Looking at cigarette.] You Americans like to kill people with greenhouse gases, correct? No Kyoto Protocol. joseph We protect our fifth-amendment rights fiercely, our freedom to pollute. So your name is Fatima but you go by a different name? An alias? jasmina I do not know this word . . . joseph Pseudonym. jasmina Do you mean what may be referred to as the “pen name”? I am not that kind of writer. joseph No, it means you use a different name when you’re in hiding. Look, I’m overbooked. I told the PHRD that I’d see you, but if you’re not going to answer my questions . . . jasmina Yes, I am “in hiding.” They shoot through my door trying to get to me. joseph What were you doing at the door? jasmina Bell, it rang. So stupid. joseph What does that mean? jasmina I go to door. This is stupid. I am this kind of person. Door rings. Go to door. Plant garden. Expect flowers. joseph You can’t say that. jasmina What . . . ? joseph Don’t ever say you’re stupid, for our purposes. jasmina We share a purpose? joseph Your name is Fatima. For the sake of this interview. jasmina Ah, interview? joseph When did you get here? jasmina Three month ago. My organization . . . [End Page 58] joseph The PHRD? jasmina Yes, Protect Human Rights Defenders rush me to get this position, “scholar in danger,” while we apply for asylum. [Referring to cigarette.] If we do close the door, could I . . . ? joseph Sorry, it’s against the law. And this is a law firm. jasmina One young student who is working near me at university says, “I thought you’d be different?” Perhaps she think that all Muslims wear the headscarf and do not smoke? [Points to the wheelchair.] In my country it is land mines that put people in wheelchairs. Yeah, that’s what got me on Park Avenue—a land mine. What other names have you used? [Still referring to land mines.] Skull-and-crossbones signs in hills . . . What other names have you used? I do use the “disguises”—is this the term . . . ? Meaning? To hide what is my identity. What kind of disguises? Eyeglasses, different hair, hats, the scarf? The headscarf. Why? Because I am wanted. By whom? Wanted by many. I try to make joke. Is that a Bosnian joke? We’ve got about six...

Gilbert J. Clausman, AHIP, FMLA, 1921–2011

Gilbert J. Clausman, AHIP, FMLA, 1921–2011

William Nunn Lipscomb, Jr. (1919-2011)

William Nunn Lipscomb, Jr., professor emeritus of Chemistry at Harvard University, died on April 14, 2011 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA). Lipscomb was born on December 9, 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio but moved the following year to Lexington, Kentucky, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Kentucky in 1941. He then moved to the California Institute of Technology, where he was active until 1946. He initially registered for the physics program there, but quickly found his way back to chemistry under the guidance of his doctoral advisor, Linus Pauling. He was primarily interested in structural chemistry and chemical bonding, topics that later had a decisive influence on his research. However, until 1945 he was involved mainly in wartime projects. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1946, he taught at the University of Minnesota (1946–1959) before finally moving to Harvard University, where he remained active long after reaching emeritus status in 1990.11 Photo from http://wlipscomb.tripod.com. Apart from work on NMR spectroscopy and chemical shifts, primarily of borohydrides, Lipscomb made pioneering contributions to two very different fields: first the structure and theory of chemical bonds in boranes and later the structure and function of enzymes, especially zinc enzymes and allosterically regulated proteins. The structure and chemical bonding in boranes such as B2H6, B4H10, B5H9, B6H10, and B10H14 had remained unclear ever since their characterization by Alfred Stock, and an explanation based on classical covalent bonds with one bonding electron pair as in carbohydrates was impossible. Lipscomb’s contributions to the understanding of the structure and bonding of boranes were based primarily on X-ray crystallographic structure determination and calculations with empirical and quantum mechanical methods. His pioneering work in low-temperature crystallography around 1950 was decisive for the structural analysis of gaseous simple boranes as well as for other fundamental compounds such as hydrazine, NO, (NO)2, and HF. The diminished atomic vibrations at low temperatures also allowed for a more precise determination of atomic positions. To solve the structure of the simplest borane, B2H6, Lipscomb used liquid helium as a refrigerant for the first time. Thanks to the development and application of quantum-chemical calculation methods, the three-center-two-electron bond in this electron-deficient compound could be elucidated. Lipscomb received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1976 as the sole Laureate for his work on the structures of boranes and their implications for chemical bonding. By that time, Lipscomb had totally reoriented the focus of his lab and had dedicated himself to another pioneering field: the exploration of the three-dimensional structure of proteins using X-ray crystallography. Lipscomb had been interested in this topic since around 1960, which was not long after the first-ever determination of a protein structure, that of myoglobin by Kendrew in 1958. When I joined his lab in 1994 as a postdoc, borane structures hung from the ceilings as large models overhead, while protein structures danced in front of us on the workstations. The first structure that Lipscomb determined was that of carboxypeptidase A, for which he, in 1968, achieved a resolution of 2.8 Å. The catalytic mechanism proposed on the basis of cocrystal structures can be found in many biochemistry textbooks as a prototypical example of a metal-mediated hydrolysis reaction. First results of crystallographic studies on the 300 kDa allosterically regulated enzyme aspartate transcarbamylase were published in 1967, but the structure was not solved with molecular resolution for another decade. The structural analysis of transcarbamylase and later the allosteric enzymes fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase and chorismate mutase resulted in fundamental new insights into the allosteric regulation of proteins. Lipscomb was not only an exceptional scientist, he was also a talented clarinetist, and he even played regularly with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Lipscomb’s co-workers always called him “Colonel”, which was not, however, a reflection of any sort of militaristic behavior or corresponding management style. On the contrary, Lipscomb granted his co-workers broad freedom and cultivated the creativity of his many students and postdocs. Three of his co-workers were later awarded Nobel Prizes of their own (R. Hoffmann, T. Steitz, and A. Yonath). The salutation as Colonel can supposedly be traced back to his first student. Indeed, Lipscomb became a “Kentucky Colonel” in 1973, a title of honor awarded by the State of Kentucky. I also have fond memories of Lipscomb’s good sense of humor. I can still see him in front of me after each submitted paper, with a grave face: “Norbert, your manuscript has unfortunately been …︁ accepted!”. He is also known for his involvement with the Ig Nobel Prizes, which have been awarded yearly since 1991 for somewhat abstruse research projects. Lipscomb died of pneumonia as the result of a fall. He is survived by his wife Jean and three children.

What Would My Cell Phone Do? (review)

Reviewed by: What Would My Cell Phone Do? Karen Coats Ostow, Micol . What Would My Cell Phone Do? Speak/Penguin, 2011. [272p]. ISBN 978-0-14-241469-9 $7.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10. Sixteen-year-old Aggie has carefully cultivated the role of sidekick, hiding safely in the shadow of her more popular best friend. Her penchant for staying out of the limelight is a disappointment to her mother, a telenovela star, who hoped Aggie would follow in her famous and fashionable footsteps. When Aggie's psychiatrist father is offered a temporary gig in Alaska, Aggie has to face leaving Miami and becoming a supporting character with no star around which to orbit. Fortunately, she quickly finds some friendship possibilities, and she's soon got a boy best friend, Duncan, and a seemingly impossible crush, Tobin. It's not until she loses her cell phone and tracks its adventures through GPS, however, that she truly embraces the possibilities of her new life; the cell phone is doing all kinds of exciting, touristy things like dogsledding, snowshoeing, and tracking glaciers, which Aggie soon emulates. Aggie's voice is fresh and funny, with direct addresses to the reader that effectively establish empathy for her plight and make her likeable. Readers will catch on to Duncan's sexual orientation long before Aggie does, but the more reticent Tobin remains a good-looking mystery, even when he confesses his affection for Aggie. Ah, well, it's hard to avoid the new YA trend of impossibly good-looking guys falling for awkward heroines, and their romance is at least somewhat credible in that Aggie has the allure of being the new girl in a small town, having a good sense of humor, and being pretty despite her own protestations to the contrary. Readers looking for a lighthearted rom-com to kick off their summer will find much to like here. [End Page 485] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Biology for Engineers (Johnson, A.T.; 2011) [Book Reviews

This textbook consists of eight chapters in six sections. Each chapter contains well-referenced text, useful and relevant quotations, great examples, useful summaries, thought questions (referenced to the relevant section of the text), and a good sense of humor. It concludes with several useful appendices containing data on various organisms. This section is followed by a comprehensive list of references cited in the text. The approach taken in this book is refreshing, comprehensible, and comprehensive. It is recommended highly as a vehicle for teaching biology to engineers of most any ilk.

Humor ability reveals intelligence, predicts mating success, and is higher in males

A good sense of humor is sexually attractive, perhaps because it reveals intelligence, creativity, and other ‘good genes’ or ‘good parent’ traits. If so, intelligence should predict humor production ability, which in turn should predict mating success. In this study, 400 university students (200 men and 200 women) completed measures of abstract reasoning (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices), verbal intelligence (the vocabulary subtest of the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery), humor production ability (rated funniness of captions written for three cartoons), and mating success (from the Sexual Behaviors and Beliefs Questionnaire). Structural equation models showed that general and verbal intelligence both predict humor production ability, which in turn predicts mating success, such as lifetime number of sexual partners. Also, males showed higher average humor production ability. These results suggest that the human sense of humor evolved at least partly through sexual selection as an intelligence-indicator.

Richard Vollenweider: an original thinker and one of his last ideas, moving correlations

Richard Vollenweider: an original thinker and one of his last ideas, moving correlations

My husband has young-onset dementia: A daughter, wife and mother’s story

I have had a long journey with dementia throughout my family’s life; I have cared for my mother, my mother-in-law and my husband, Mark. Mark and I met nearly 24 years ago on a return flight from Canada where we were both on holiday. I am sure it was fate and a good sense of humour that brought us together. I soon found out it was not going to be easy to date Mark and have time together. Mark’s mother had a form of dementia and he had already been caring for her for several years. We managed to juggle our responsibilities to make time together, including several holidays abroad to places like Austria, Crete and Russia. These holidays are memories of our early life together that I continue to hold very dear. Soon after we met my own mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 54; it was 1987. My world was rocked. I did not know younger people could get this disease and had always assumed it only happened to older people. I shared my mother’s care with my sister, which allowed me to keep my job. This was very important as it allowed me to maintain my own sense of identity and keep my own interests and activities alive. The following few years were difficult, but we managed to attain some normality by working together as a couple. In 1989 Mark and I got engaged with a plan to marry the following year; by this time, Mark’s mother was in the later stages of the disease and had day care in hospital five days a week. This meant Mark could still work in his job as a gardener – he’s always loved being outdoors. When Mark later agreed that the responsibilities of caring were getting beyond him, a full-time place was found at a local hospital. This was a tremendously difficult decision for Mark to make. Mark and I married in October 1990; it was a wonderful celebration. By the following year, my mother was also in the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease and had to move into a nursing home. Mark and I continued to work, have holidays and socialize. Our lives were still dominated by ‘the disease’ as we continued to visit our mothers and watch their steady decline; at times it is so very sad to see your loved ones go through this.

Björn O. Roos (1937-2010)

Björn O. Roos (1937-2010)

Prejudice-relevant correlates of humor temperaments and humor styles

Given the field’s interest in humor-relevant individual differences in general, we explored the extent to which humor styles and temperament are correlated with individual difference predictors of prejudice. Participants ( n = 136) completed the humor styles questionnaire, the state-trait cheerfulness inventory-(traits), and measures of social dominance orientation (SDO), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), personal need for structure (PNS), and anti-Black prejudice. Contrary to preferences for positive humor use among participants generally (i.e., collapsing across individual differences), those higher in SDO or anti-Black prejudice reported increased use of aggressive humor. Those with prejudicial tendencies theoretically rooted in uncertainty avoidance and low openness (RWA, PNS), however, demonstrated no preference (or even some distaste) for socially-oriented humor use. Whereas SDO, RWA, and anti-Black prejudice were unrelated to possessing a “good sense of humor”, PNS was associated with a poor sense of humor. Overall, distinct and theoretically meaningful relations between the prejudice-prone variables and humor-relevant individual differences emerged, with aggressive uses of humor endorsed only by prejudiced and dominance- (vs. security-) oriented persons, contrary to preferences for affiliative and self-regulatory humor styles among people generally.

Advocate's Small-State Wins Get Big-Time Attention

Advocate's Small-State Wins Get Big-Time Attention

Gender Variant and Gender Dysphoria in Two Young Children

CASE: Alexandra is 5 ½ years old, youngest of four girls, and lives with her parents. She is described by her teachers as a thoughtful, imaginative girl with a good sense of humor, and strong literacy and math skills. Parents describe her typical mood as happy and easy going. She has many friends and engages in a variety of play activities. At 18 months, Alexandra insisted on wearing boys' underwear before she would complete toilet training. At 3 years, she told her parents that she should have been a and insisted on wearing boys' clothes. Alexandra now refuses to wear dresses and wears a coat and tie to formal occasions, which has led to conflicts with her grandparents. During make-believe play, Alexandra always chooses to play roles. She keeps her hair short and her dress and mannerisms are so masculine that people who do not know her assume that she is a boy. Alexandra makes frequent statements about being or wishing she were a boy. When asked directly she says a girl, but I'm a boy inside. Her parents have recently become alarmed because Alexandra has begun saying I hate myself, and once said that when her breasts grow she will slice them off. She has recently asked her parents to call her Alex. There is no apparent bullying or teasing from other children. Alex's parents are understanding and supportive of her quandary, though they have questions and concems about long-term implications of these behaviors and choices. Chris is a 9-year-old boy, referred because of his preference for traditionally feminine clothing, toys, and activities. Chris's parents are divorced; he lives with his father and paternal grandparents, visiting his mother once a week. Chris met developmental milestones on time and always seemed smart and eager to learn. By 2 years of age, his family noticed that he was attracted to pretty and shiny things like dresses, sequins, and glitter, although he has always worn boys' clothing without complaint. During next few years, he asked for Barbie dolls for his birthday and seemed fascinated by long blond hair. When coloring, he preferred pink and purple crayons and usually drew female characters, very decorated and with long hair. In comparison, his drawings of himself were small and plain. He occasionally said I know I'm a boy, but I'm a girl in my His pediatrician advised family to throw out dolls and girlish toys, emphasize male activities, and insist that he draw boys as well as girls. Chris was so distraught by this that he was allowed to keep one Barbie doll, as long as he only played with it indoors and did not talk about doll with friends. In kindergarten and first grade, Chris played mostly with girls and was not interested in sports or rough-and-tumble play. He was teased by other children and had few friends, mostly girls. He started to have sudden outbursts at home and at school that seemed beyond his control, sometimes kicking walls and punching himself in head. At beginning of third grade, Chris agreed to join soccer team as his father wanted. His family no longer sees him playing with Barbies and he has agreed to a few play dates with new boys in his class. Chris is quieter than he used to be, with fewer outbursts. For his birthday, he privately asked his father's fiance for a blond long-haired wig, but when his father confronted him, he denied it. His father reports that the phase has finally passed.