Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods (original) (raw)
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The roles of humor and sense of humor in responses to stressors
Humor-international Journal of Humor Research, 1999
Participants' anxiety and affective state were assessed prior to and after observing a stress-arousing segment from a movie. Following this stressor, participants received a treatment which involved viewing either a humorous videotape, a nonhumorous videotape, or waiting without distraction, before providing ajinal measure of affect and anxiety. The results revealed that the stressor elevated anxiety and lowered positive afect. The humor treatment successfully reduced anxiety and raised positive afect relative to the waiting condition. The nonhumorous videotape treatment also reduced anxiety, but did not increase positive afect. Nine measures of sense of humor were used in regression analyses to predict anxiety and affect at each point in the procedure (pre-stressor, post-stressor, posttreatment). The Metamessage Sensitivity scale of the Sense of Humor Questionnaire was the most useful predictor across the dzfferent measures of anxiety and affect, although other measures were significant at some points in the procedure or for participants receiving one of the treatments. The overall results from the regression analyses, and a comparison of the relationships among the various measures of sense of humor, suggest that there is a common element of sense of humor that involves an appreciation for the personal and social utility of humor that may be closely related to emotional responses to life events. Taken together with the results from the treatment manipulation, the results indicate that an external humorous event can have a significant impact on negative emotional responses to stressors, but that one's sense of humor also plays an important role.
1992
R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Just as personality factors color other aspects of a per son's overt behaviors, so they must influence the manner in which individuals express their sense of humor. Although humor might be assumed to be normally dis tributed, Alport (1961) found that fewer than 6% of a sample of college students were willing to admit to a less than average sense of humor. This attests to the desirability of humor as a personal trait. Nature and Importance of the Study In recent years, the emphasis within psychology has shifted away from the observation of behaviors alone, to the important role played by cognitions. This has been paralleled by renewed interest in the relationship be tween mind and body. Although the dualistic view of Descartes still permeates contemporary medical thought, increasing numbers of psychologists and others involved in health care are advocating a holistic paradigm that views psycho-social factors as playing a role in all ill ness (Jemmott & Locke, 1984; Rabkin & Struening, 1976; Vaillant, 1979). Some physicians (Siegel, 1986) have joined the ranks of those that not only recognize the mind/body relationship but actively promote health and the amelioration of disease by taking full advantage of the powers of the mind to influence the body. Considerable research has focused on the effects of R eproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Humor Styles as Moderators in the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Physical Health
SAGE Open, 2017
Stressful experiences, especially those of a chronic nature, may contribute toward a variety of adverse health outcomes (Martin, 2002; Schat, Kelloway, & Desmarais, 2005). In this regard, some studies have found that humor could be a coping mechanism or moderator that lessens the impact of frequent stressors (Lefcourt, 2002; Martin, 2003; Svebak, 2010). These results were, however, contradictory, with some studies finding little or no beneficial outcomes (Gremigni, 2012). An emphasis on humor as a unidimensional construct has been proposed as playing a role in the lack of stable findings. Confirming the multidimensional nature of humor, Kirsh and Kuiper (2003) found empirical support for two broad sense of humor dimensions which indicate that humor can have both beneficial and detrimental aspects. From this viewpoint, it is possible that buffering of stress and concomitant enhancements in one's health may not only occur as a result of constructive humor usage but also from the avoidance of harmful humor use (Cann,
Humor as a protective factor against anxiety and depression
International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology
Background/Objectives: Even though humor its part of everyday life, only in the last 40 years has Psychology begun to discern its impact on mental health. The aim of this paper is to explore the role that humor styles may have as protectors against anxiety and depression and their relationship with optimism. Method: A sample of 804 participants (M = 39.28; SD = 14.71) was used to analyze the uses of humor, optimism and clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, the influence of sociodemographic variables such as sex, geographic location, age and educational level on different uses of humor was studied. Through an analysis of structural equations, the variables that had a protective or facilitating role in depression and anxiety were analyzed. Results: Men and women differ in the use of a more aggressive humor style, and the use of affiliative humor styles decreases with age. The structural equation model indicated a good fit to the proposed theoretical model. Conclusions: Humor is a tool of everyday life and it can act for or against an individual's mental health.
Does humor moderate the effects of experimentally-induced stress?
Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 1996
This study attempted to determine whether humor production moderates mood and physiological responses to stress of subjects high and low in trait humor. Forty subjects who were high and 40 subjects who were low in trait humor were selected. Half of each group was randomly assigned to one of two conditions. In one condition they generated a humorous monologue and in the other condition they generated a serious monologue to a silent stressful film. Heart rate, skin conductance level, and skin temperature were taken continuously for the fifteen minutes before, during, and fifteen minutes after the film. Pre-and post-stress mood and tension ratings were also recorded. Analyses of covariance were conducted with baseline mood and tension as covariates. Compared to the production of a serious narrative, humor production led to lower negative affect, lower tension, and reduced psychophysiological reactivity for both high and low trait-humor groups. These results suggest that humor production may be an effective coping strategy, even for individuals who do not typically use humor to cope with stress.
An Investigation into the Effects of Humor and Laughter on Depressive Symptomology
2001
I would like to sincerely thank my mentor Dr. David Stein for his invaluable guidance on this project. His willingness to take time out of his busy schedule to provide support and help is greatly appreciated. Further, the contribution of his keen understanding of scientific methodology and his ability to effectively relay such understanding greatly enhanced the quality of the study. I would also like to thank Dr. Susan Crowley for her guidance throughout the study. Her support was manifested by her willingness to field questions in hallways, practicum supervision, unexpected office visits, or whatever other situation I may have found her. Moreover, her practical guidance was vital to the completion of this study. I am also thankful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Mary Doty. Her insightful feedback on drafts as well as her thoughtful consideration for the well-being of the study participants was a great benefit to the study. I would also like to thank my parents , Raymond and Debra Goodson , for their loving support and encouragement throughout this time of my life. Likewise, I would like to thank Lindsay Fuhriman for her patience and continual support. Finally, I would like to thank Derek Reinke , fellow graduate student and roommate, for his willingness to provide statistical consultations.
Sense of Humor, Stable Affect, and Psychological Well-Being
Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 2014
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.
2013
In recent decades, a sense of humor has come to be viewed not only as a very socially desirable personality trait but also as an important component of mental health. Besides boosting positive emotions and counteracting negative moods like depression and anxiety, humor is thought to be a valuable mechanism for coping with stressful life events and an important social skill for initiating, maintaining, and enhancing satisfying interpersonal relationships (Galloway and Cropley, 1999; Kuiper and Olinger, 1998; Lefcourt, 2001). A good deal of research in the psychology of humor in the past two decades has focused on the relation between humor and various aspects of mental health. Our discussion of the implications of humor for mental health in this chapter brings us to clinical psychology, the branch of psychology having to do with the study, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders, as well as the study and promotion of factors contributing to positive mental health and well-being (Seligman and Peterson, 2003). Clinical psychology is both a research discipline and an applied profession. In this chapter, I will focus on the research aspect, exploring empirical findings concerning the role of humor in psychological health and well-being; applied issues will be the focus in Chapter 11, where I will consider applications of humor to psychotherapy. Mental health is often defined in negative terms as the absence of psychological disturbance or emotional distress. In this chapter, I will take a more positive approach, defining it in terms of three general capacities that seem to be essential for
Differential effects of stress-related and stress-unrelated humor in remitted depression
Scientific Reports
Enhancing emotion regulation among previously depressed people is crucial for improving their resilience and reducing relapse. Therefore, emphasis is placed on determining effective regulation strategies, particularly those that, besides down-regulating negative emotions, also up-regulate positive emotions. One promising strategy, with great potential in both these respects, is humor. It is unclear, however, what type of humor is most adaptive in remitted depression. This study compared two distinct humor-based strategies: stress-related humor and stress-unrelated humor. Outpatients with remitted depression (N = 94) participated in a randomized experiment evoking personal stress and the subsequent application of stress-related humor, stress-unrelated humor, or a non-humorous regulation. They repeatedly reported positive and negative emotions (at four time points) and experienced distress (at three time points). There were also assessments of selective attention, subsequent performan...