Humor Behavior Research Articles

Trait cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood outperform personality traits of the five-factor model in explaining variance in humor behaviors and well-being among adolescents

In this study, we sought to locate the three traits known as the temperamental basis of humor (cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood) in the personality space defined by the five-factor model in adolescents. The study also investigated the relative contribution of these narrower traits – in comparison to broad personality traits – to explaining variance in relevant outcomes: the frequency of humor behaviors and well-being. A sample of N = 379 adolescents aged 10 to 17 years (mean age = 15.52, 28.5% male) completed questionnaires on the traits of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood (STCI-youth), the personality traits of the five-factor model (IPIP-junior), the frequency with which they typically displayed 13 different humor behaviors (HUMOR), and well-being (PWI-SC). The results reveal that all three traits assessed by the STCI-youth predicted unique variance in both the frequency of humor behaviors and well-being – beyond demographic variables, the personality traits of the five-factor model, and each other. Using dominance analysis, we demonstrate that the variables assessed by the STCI-youth – in particular, cheerfulness and seriousness for humor behaviors and cheerfulness and bad mood for well-being – outperform broad personality traits in accounting for the variance in humor behaviors. In conclusion, the present study shows that cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood overlap with broad personality traits, while being unique predictors of everyday humor behaviors and well-being. Thus, they are well-suited for investigating individual differences in the domain of humor among adolescents.

만 5세 유아들의 다문화 그림책에 대한 문학적 반응

In this study, the researchers analyzed the literary responses of young children to multicultural picture books to examine their perception of multiculturalism. The responses to multicultural picture books of 46 young children were analyzed by Sipe’s (2007) Literary Response Type. The responses of the young children were: analytical responses, in which the toddlers understood the multicultural families and their members in the books; intertextual responses in which they were reminded of the contents of other books related to multicultural topics; personal responses, where they recalled visiting a foreign country or meeting a foreigner; transparent responses, where they were emotionally connected to the feelings of multicultural family members, who were the characters in the picture book; and, performative responses, where they enjoyed humorous behaviors using the unfamiliar names of the multicultural family members, etc. The literary responses of the young children showed that the picture books can be used effectively in multicultural education. In order to develop the multi-cultural capabilities of the young children, it is necessary to publish multicultural picture books of high quality and invigorate multicultural education using such books.

Assessing the Temperamental Basis of the Sense of Humor: Adaptation of the English Language Version of the State-Trait Cheerfulness Inventory Long and Standard Form.

The State-Trait Model of Cheerfulness assesses the temperamental basis of the sense of humor with the traits and respective states of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood. Cheerfulness is a dominant factor in current measures of the sense of humor and explains both, the disposition to engaging in smiling and laughter, as well as humor behaviors, and trait seriousness and bad mood are antagonistic to the elicitation of amusement (albeit for different reasons). Several studies have shown the validity and reliability of the STCI questionnaire in German and other language versions (i.e., Spanish). In this study, the English language version with 106 items (STCI-T <106>) was translated, checked for its item and scale characteristics, and tested with a confirmatory factor analysis approach (N = 1101) to investigate the factorial validity of the STCI-T <106> scale. Results show good psychometric characteristics, good internal consistencies, and a fit to the postulated underlying structure of the STCI-T. Then, the standard form with 60 items (STCI-T <60>) was developed and the psychometric characteristics initially tested. In an independent sample (N = 169), the characteristics of the standard form were compared to the parent form and German equivalent. It showed good psychometric characteristics, internal consistencies, as well as a good self- and peer-report congruence. To conclude, the STCI-T <106> is the measure of choice for the assessment of the temperamental basis of the sense of humor and the separate facets of the traits, while the standard form (60 items) allows of an economic assessment of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood, free of context-saturated items and humor preferences.

Investigating Humor in Social Interaction in People With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Background: Humor, both producing and appreciating, underpins positive social interactions. It acts as a facilitator of communication. There are clear links to wellbeing that go along with this form of social engagement. However, humor appears to be a seldom studied, cross-disciplinary area of investigation when applied to people with an intellectual disability. This review collates the current state of knowledge regarding the role of humor behavior in the social interactions of people with intellectual disabilities and their carers.Method: A systematic review utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was completed, which aimed to explore the current state of knowledge and quality of empirical evidence relating to humor in people with intellectual disabilities. Following this, articles were grouped thematically and summarized. A comprehensive search of four electronic databases (1954–2017) and additional search strategies yielded 32 articles which met the final inclusion criteria.Results: Humor played a significant positive and negative role in the social interactions of people with intellectual disabilities. Research had investigated humor in the classroom and humor expression in different groups including those with autism, Down syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Rett syndrome. Few investigations directly studied humor appreciation and comprehension. Humor comprehension was reportedly supported by gestures. Some groups with intellectual disabilities found non-literal humor (e.g., sarcasm, irony) more difficult to understand, which may affect social relationships. Various types of humor were found to be appreciated. The role of humor in relationship development, social facilitation, creativity, and stigma had all received some limited attention. Humor also played a role for carer groups in coping with and enjoying the caring role. Research varied in quality with few experimental studies and mainly quasi-experimental and well-conducted, qualitative studies.Conclusions: This review revealed the importance of humor behavior in many aspects of the social lives of people with intellectual disabilities. Limited disparate research exists pertaining to humor in this group, suggesting the need for further robust research in this area, including more high quality primary research in the areas of humor production, appreciation, comprehension, and stigma.

Assessing an Intervention Focused on Enhancing Interpersonal Communication Skills and Humor: A Multi-Method Quasi-Experiential Study Among Medical Students

ABSTRACTTeaching and applying interpersonal communication skills (ICS) and humor in medicine is challenging. The present study assessed an innovative course focused on enhancing ICS and humor based on the Four Habits Model and theater concepts. Medical students enrolled in the course (the study group) were assessed pre- and post-intervention, as well as compared with their peers (the control group) using quantitative methods to measure attitudes, self-efficacy, and behaviors. Qualitative methods were used to learn about students’ change in perceptions related to ICS and humor following the course, as well as their experiences of developing these skills during the course. Post-intervention study group participants scored significantly higher on all ICS measurements and on humor behavior compared with pre-intervention, and significantly higher on all humor measurements compared with control group participants. Interviews indicated students’ increased understanding and difficulties in learning these skills. Analyses showed how framing humor as one possible ICS and focusing on specific parts of the medical encounter can promote patient-centered care.

A Study on the Effect of Leader’s Humor Behavior on Employee’s Positive and Negative Emotions: Moderating Effect of Leader-Follower Distance

A Study on the Effect of Leader’s Humor Behavior on Employee’s Positive and Negative Emotions: Moderating Effect of Leader-Follower Distance

Yöneticilerin Mizah Tarzlarının Çalışanların Örgütsel Sinizm Algısına Etkisi - The Effects of Manager s Humor Styles on Organizational Cynicism Perception of Employees

Manager’s behaviors in organizations have such a potential as to shape and change the behaviors of employees. In this study, the presence of a relationship of a cynical picture exhibited by employees as well as how managers are perceived by employees from the point of view of humor have been introduced. The study was conducted by means of quantitative data collection tools in 2016 at a public university with the participation of 206 instructors. Research hypotheses have been tested using correlation and regression analysis on the collected data. At the end of the study, a correlation has been found to exist between the humorous behaviors of managers and DOI: 10.20491/isarder.2016.197

Putting a spotlight on daily humor behaviors: Dimensionality and relationships with personality, subjective well-being, and humor styles

Although psychological humor research has expanded in the last decades, the humor behaviors that people show in their everyday lives are still poorly understood. To fill this gap, this diary study explores the dimensionality of 45 daily humor behaviors and their relationships with the Big Five personality traits and subjective well-being. Furthermore, the humor behaviors were utilized to investigate the criterion validity of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. A hierarchical factor analysis of the humor behaviors (N=123) revealed seven dimensions: Cheerful, witty, deriding, amused, sarcastic, self-directed, and canned. These humor behavior dimensions correlated with emotional stability, extraversion, lower agreeableness, and culture/openness. Also cheerful, amused, and self-directed humor behaviors correlated positively with subjective well-being, even when personality and the humor styles were controlled for. The criterion correlations of the humor styles to their constituting humor behaviors were medium to large for affiliative and self-enhancing, and small to medium for aggressive and self-defeating. Overall, investigating humor behaviors seems a promising venue for future research and applications of individual differences in humor.

The effects of humor behavior on adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of humor behavior on adaptive performance and contribution to team members‘ adaptive performance. This study also investigated the mediating role of burnout on the relationships between humor behavior and individual adaptive performance &amp; contribution to team members’ adaptive performance based on the theory of psychological resources. The study conducted a survey research to 152 employees in various organizations who work with their team members. Because this study measured adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance using peer-report method, 118 data collected from the sample were appropriate for analysis. The results of this study showed that affiliative humor behavior was negatively related to burnout while aggressive humor behavior was positively related to burnout. Burnout was negatively related to adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance. In addition, the effects of humor behavior on adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance were fully mediated by the burnout. Finally, the implications and the limitations of this study were discussed, suggesting the directions for future research.

The Effects of Humor Behavior on Adaptive Performance and Contribution to Team Members’ Adaptive Performance: The Mediating Effects of Burnout

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of humor behavior on adaptive performance and contribution to team members‘ adaptive performance. This study also investigated the mediating role of burnout on the relationships between humor behavior and individual adaptive performance & contribution to team members’ adaptive performance based on the theory of psychological resources. The study conducted a survey research to 152 employees in various organizations who work with their team members. Because this study measured adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance using peer-report method, 118 data collected from the sample were appropriate for analysis. The results of this study showed that affiliative humor behavior was negatively related to burnout while aggressive humor behavior was positively related to burnout. Burnout was negatively related to adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance. In addition, the effects of humor behavior on adaptive performance and contribution to team members’ adaptive performance were fully mediated by the burnout. Finally, the implications and the limitations of this study were discussed, suggesting the directions for future research.

Why did the emu cross the road? Exploring employees’ perception and expectations of humor in the Australian workplace

Workplace humor is currently an emerging area of study in management research. While studies on the functions and outcomes of workplace humor in the United States abound, there is little research on humor in Australian workplaces. This limits Australian organizations from tapping the rich potential of humor to achieve positive employee and organizational outcomes. This study aims to start a research agenda on workplace humor in Australia by conducting a survey study of Australian employees’ perception of the occurrence and acceptability of humor behavior in their workplaces and by analyzing humor events at work. To achieve the latter objective, first, the scattered workplace humor literature is reviewed to develop a single framework that can effectively situate and capture humor events. Findings from 433 respondents indicate that humor occurs across a variety of organizations in Australia and that employees report positive views toward workplace humor. A surprising finding was that employees reported they expect their managers to use humor with them. Implications for managers and future research directions are developed.

Altered Sense of Humor in Dementia

Sense of humor is potentially relevant to social functioning in dementias, but has been little studied in these diseases. We designed a semi-structured informant questionnaire to assess humor behavior and preferences in patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD; n = 15), semantic dementia (SD; n = 7), progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA; n = 10), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD; n = 16) versus healthy age-matched individuals (n = 21). Altered (including frankly inappropriate) humor responses were significantly more frequent in bvFTD and SD (all patients) than PNFA or AD (around 40% of patients). All patient groups liked satirical and absurdist comedy significantly less than did healthy controls. This pattern was reported premorbidly for satirical comedy in bvFTD, PNFA, and AD. Liking for slapstick comedy did not differ between groups. Altered sense of humor is particularly salient in bvFTD and SD, but also frequent in AD and PNFA. Humor may be a sensitive probe of social cognitive impairment in dementia, with diagnostic, biomarker and social implications.

How to promote relationship-building leadership at work? A comparative exploration of leader humor behavior between North America and China

There is a growing consensus that humor could be one of the most important competencies of a leader. This impression seems to be especially so under the clan controls where relationship-building between a leader and employees become crucial in managing human resources (HR). However, we caution against making this a global assumption by exploring the association between humor and leadership in different cultural contexts, in particular comparing China with North America. We argue that there is weaker association between use of humor and perceived leadership in China than North America. While the main message is not about denying the effectiveness of humor per se, this conceptual paper is wary about the blind adaptation or convergence of leader behaviors (e.g. humor) and HR management oriented toward American practices. At the same time, we highlight the need to consider the informal context of an organization in explaining possible paradoxical attitudes toward humor in China.

Humorous communication, verbal aggressiveness, and father–son relational satisfaction

AbstractThis study examines the role of humor orientation and reported humorous communication behaviors during father–son conflict in predicting relational satisfaction. In addition, the main effect and interaction effect (with humor orientation) of verbal aggressiveness on relational satisfaction is investigated. A survey of adult father–son pairs pinpoints an interesting network of findings linking general humor orientations, verbal aggressiveness, reported use of humorous messages during conflict, and relational satisfaction within the father–son relationship. Key findings include: Sons’ relational satisfaction is predicted by lower fathers’ verbal aggressiveness for those with fathers who report a very high humor orientation. On the other hand, fathers’ relational satisfaction is predicted by lower levels of sons’ humor orientation, and not by verbal aggressiveness. Further, sons’ relational satisfaction is negatively related to the reported use of

The Motivation Level of the Teachers According to the School Managers’ Senses of Humour

In this research, school managers’ humorous behaviors were determined according to the teachers’ opinions and the effects of these behaviors on the motivation level of the teachers were tried to be determined.The research is in the survey model form. The primary and high school teacher working in Üsküdar, İstanbul constitutes the target population of the research. 364 teachers, chosen by rational member sampling method, constitute the sampling of the research. To gather the data of the research, “Humour Senses Questionnaire” and “Teacher Motivation Survey” were used. According to the findings obtained, the teachers think that the school managers often show behavior to motivate the teachers in all aspects. The teachers working in primary and high schools think that the schools managers use rarely ironical humour, repudiative humour and non-humorous humour, sometimes producting social humour, and often affirmative humour. In addition, it was seen that there is a negative and medium level relation between the managers’ ironical, repudiative and non-humorous styles and the all aspects of the motivation behaviors of the teachers, and that there is a positive and medium level relation between the managers’ affirmative, productive social styles and the all aspects of the motivation behaviors of the teachers.

Relationship between High School Principals' Humor Styles and Teacher Leadership

This study aimed at examining the relationship between high school teachers' perceptions of teacher leadership and school principals' humor styles. A total of 252 teachers employed in 12 high schools located in the city centre of Ankara, Turkey participated in the study. “The Humor Behavior Scale” developed by Cemaloglu, Recepoglu, Sahin, Dasci and Kokturk (2013) and “The Teacher Leadership Scale” developed by Beycioglu and Aslan (2010) were used to gather data. Results of the study indicated that productive-social humor style was positively and significantly correlated with such dimensions of teacher leadership as institutional improvement, professional improvement, and collaboration among colleagues. Results also revealed that the productive-social humor style was a significant predictor of institutional improvement and professional improvement. Results were discussed within the context of the improvement of the leadership behaviors of teachers.

Low-income women's conceptualizations of emotional- and stress-eating

Emotional- and stress-eating have been proposed as risk factors for obesity. However, the way that individuals conceptualize these behaviors is not well understood and no studies have employed a qualitative approach. We sought to understand how women conceptualize emotional- and stress-eating. Sixty-one low-income women from South-central Michigan with young children (ages 2–5 years) participated in either a focus group or individual semi-structured interview during which they were asked about their conceptualizations of eating behaviors among adults and children. Responses were transcribed and the constant comparative method was used to identify themes. Identified themes included that emotional- and stress-eating are viewed as uncommon, severe, pitiable behaviors that reflect a lack of self-control and are highly stigmatized; that when these behaviors occurred among children, the behaviors resulted from neglect or even abuse; and that bored-eating is viewed as distinct from emotional- or stress-eating and is a common and humorous behavior with which participants readily self-identified. Future research and interventions should seek to develop more detailed conceptualizations of these behaviors to improve measurement, destigmatize emotional- and stress-eating and potentially capitalize on the strong identification with bored-eating by targeting this behavior for interventions.

Examining Relationships between School Administrators’ Humor Behaviors and Teachers’ Mobbing Experiences According to Teacher Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to identify school administrators' behaviors as perceived by teachers and to determine the relationships between the school administrators' perceived behavior and mobbing experienced by teachers. Data was obtained from 459 teachers chosen by systematic sampling. Results indicated that teachers described negative attitudes mostly encountered as refusal to take their ideas and opinions into consideration, hiding information that would affect their performance from them, and humiliation suffered as a result of being assigned to works below the level of their competence. Teachers believed that school administrators generally had Appreciative humor and productive-social humor attitudes. While there was a negative and significant relationship between positive behaviors and mobbing, there were also positive and significant relationships between negative behaviors and mobbing. Sarcastic and rejective were the significant predictors of mobbing. © 2014 IOJES. All rights reserved

Humor and strengths of character

Humor in the Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths is conceptualized as a unipolar and unidimensional strength and is subsumed under the virtue of transcendence. Its scope is intentionally restricted to forms of humor that serve some moral good. The present study (N = 203) investigated the relation between five dimensions of humorous conduct, sense of humor, and the VIA-Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS). Results show (1) that the VIA-humor correlated with socially warm and competent humor, and the sense of humor, all with a common basis in humanity. (2) Each humor style showed relations to strengths. Additionally, strengths related to the virtue of temperance were also related to not showing mean-spirited and earthy forms of humor. Hence, humor in the VIA-IS can be well-located in established humor taxonomies, but does not cover all of the virtue-related humorous behaviors. Further research is requested to investigate the role of virtue in humor.

The humor of Christ: A different methodological approach

AbstractThe Gospels never mention Jesus laughing. Therefore, the inference some make is that if it does not specifically say that he did, then he must not have. Other scholars have argued that it is easy to see humor in the writings about Christ if you look for it (e.g., Buckner, The joy of Jesus, The Canterbury Press, 1993; Trueblood, The humor of Christ, Harper &amp; Row Publishers, 1964; Wirt, Jesus man of joy, Harvest House Publishers, 1999). The goal of the present study is to examine how Christians describe the humorous (or not) behavior of Jesus Christ using the Humorous Behavior Q-Sort Deck (Craik, Lampert, and Nelson, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 9: 273–302, 1996). This is a new application of an established methodological approach which should aid our thinking on the subject of humor and Christ. Thirty subjects sorted the 100 statements while reflecting on Jesus. The results are discussed within the humorous style framework of Craik and Ware (Humor and personality in everyday life, Mouton de Gruyter. 1998) and the larger research context.