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Let’s entertain others: the relationship between comic styles and the histrionic self-presentation style in Polish, British, and Canadian samples

  • Agnieszka Fanslau

    Agnieszka Fanslau is an assistant professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk. Her PhD focused on self-regulation in the context of resisting temptation. Her research interests include humor, humorous self-presentation, and the use of irony and sarcasm.

     ORCID logo EMAIL logo     , Michał Olech

    Michał Olech, PhD in Mathematics, assistant professor in the Department of Health Psychology at the Medical University of Gdansk. His research focuses on the application of statistical data analysis methods. He has participated in numerous projects on the psychometric validation of diagnostic tools.

     ORCID logo     , Piotr Kałowski

    Piotr Kałowski, PhD is an assistant professor at the School of Human Sciences, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. His scientific interests include individual differences in irony use and understanding, with a particular focus on quantitative methods.

     ORCID logo     , Katarzyna Branowska

    Katarzyna Branowska, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw. She is a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences, conducting research on verbal irony, and need for cognitive closure.

     ORCID logo     , Anna Zarazińska

    Anna Zarazińska is a doctoral student at The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw. Her research interests are related to evolutionary and cognitive psychology, i.e., cognitive distortions and resistance to evidence. She is currently developing a research project on the evolutionary perspective of conspiracy beliefs.

     ORCID logo     , Melanie Glenwright

    Melanie Glenwright is an associate profesor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Manitoba, Canada. She is a developmental psychologist who uses experimental and survey methods to examine factors that influence social communication comprehension in children, adolescents, and adults.

     ORCID logo     , Lauren McGuinness

    Lauren McGuinness is a postgraduate researcher at the University of Kent’s Child Development Unit. She is primarily interested in the conversational abilities and pragmatic language use of both neurotypical and autistic children.

     ORCID logo     and Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak

    Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak is an assistant professor at the Institute of Psychology at the Maria Grzegorzewska University. She conducts research at the intersection of psychology and linguistics. In the Language & Humour Lab, together with her team, she has studied individual and socio-cultural factors that may be related to the preference for using verbal irony and sarcasm.

     ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: June 17, 2024
HUMOR
From the journal HUMOR Volume 37 Issue 3

Abstract

People who have the histrionic self-presentation style (HSP) demonstrate certain As-If-behaviors, involving pretense and role play, in their daily interactions to seek attention and amuse others. Doing As-If may be closely related to humor behaviors, so we examined this relationship in greater detail by using the Comic Style Markers (CSM) in Polish, English, and Canadian samples (N = 285, 383, and 305, respectively; Mage = 20.85, SD = 5.35). We expected that the HSP might be related to fun, wit, and satire due to their pretense-based characteristics. We confirmed configurational, metric, and scalar invariance for the As-If-Scale (AIS) and the CSM in the three samples, which allowed for cross-cultural comparisons. As expected, the HSP was positively associated with fun, wit, and satire. Additionally, men scored higher on the AIS, but no cross-country differences were found.

Keywords: comic styles; histrionic self-presentation; humor; individual differences; measurement invariance
Corresponding author: Agnieszka Fanslau, Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk, Bazynskiego 4, 80-309 Gdansk, Poland, E-mail:

Funding source: National Science Centre, Poland

Award Identifier / Grant number: SONATA 2019/35/D/HS2/01005

About the authors

Agnieszka Fanslau

Agnieszka Fanslau is an assistant professor at the Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk. Her PhD focused on self-regulation in the context of resisting temptation. Her research interests include humor, humorous self-presentation, and the use of irony and sarcasm.

Michał Olech

Michał Olech, PhD in Mathematics, assistant professor in the Department of Health Psychology at the Medical University of Gdansk. His research focuses on the application of statistical data analysis methods. He has participated in numerous projects on the psychometric validation of diagnostic tools.

Piotr Kałowski

Piotr Kałowski, PhD is an assistant professor at the School of Human Sciences, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. His scientific interests include individual differences in irony use and understanding, with a particular focus on quantitative methods.

Katarzyna Branowska

Katarzyna Branowska, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw. She is a PhD student at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences, conducting research on verbal irony, and need for cognitive closure.

Anna Zarazińska

Anna Zarazińska is a doctoral student at The Maria Grzegorzewska University in Warsaw. Her research interests are related to evolutionary and cognitive psychology, i.e., cognitive distortions and resistance to evidence. She is currently developing a research project on the evolutionary perspective of conspiracy beliefs.

Melanie Glenwright

Melanie Glenwright is an associate profesor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Manitoba, Canada. She is a developmental psychologist who uses experimental and survey methods to examine factors that influence social communication comprehension in children, adolescents, and adults.

Lauren McGuinness

Lauren McGuinness is a postgraduate researcher at the University of Kent’s Child Development Unit. She is primarily interested in the conversational abilities and pragmatic language use of both neurotypical and autistic children.

Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak

Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak is an assistant professor at the Institute of Psychology at the Maria Grzegorzewska University. She conducts research at the intersection of psychology and linguistics. In the Language & Humour Lab, together with her team, she has studied individual and socio-cultural factors that may be related to the preference for using verbal irony and sarcasm.

  1. Competing interests: We have no conflicts of interests to disclose.

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Received: 2023-08-21
Accepted: 2024-05-20
Published Online: 2024-06-17
Published in Print: 2024-08-27

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Full Length Articles
  3. Israeli Nonsense: humor, globalization and vegetables during the early nineties
  4. “Laughing with” or “laughing at” people with disabilities? Love on the Spectrum and Derek
  5. Party games and prejudice: are these Cards Against Humanity?
  6. What is counter-Versailles literature? – At the intersection of humblebrag, irony, and humor
  7. The power of memes: personification as a marker of psychological distance in memes about the war in Ukraine
  8. Let’s entertain others: the relationship between comic styles and the histrionic self-presentation style in Polish, British, and Canadian samples
  9. Downward-punching disparagement humor harms interpersonal impressions and trust
  10. Book Reviews
  11. Jessica Milner Davis: Humour in Asian Cultures. Tradition and Context
  12. Francisco Yus: Pragmatics of Internet Humor
  13. Chaoqun Xie: The Pragmatics of Internet Memes
  14. Esther Linares Bernabéu: The Pragmatics of Humour in Interactive Contexts
  15. Lena Straßburger: Humor and Horror – Different Emotions, Similar Linguistic Processing Strategies
https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2023-0116
Keywords for this article
comic styles; histrionic self-presentation; humor; individual differences; measurement invariance

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Full Length Articles
  3. Israeli Nonsense: humor, globalization and vegetables during the early nineties
  4. “Laughing with” or “laughing at” people with disabilities? Love on the Spectrum and Derek
  5. Party games and prejudice: are these Cards Against Humanity?
  6. What is counter-Versailles literature? – At the intersection of humblebrag, irony, and humor
  7. The power of memes: personification as a marker of psychological distance in memes about the war in Ukraine
  8. Let’s entertain others: the relationship between comic styles and the histrionic self-presentation style in Polish, British, and Canadian samples
  9. Downward-punching disparagement humor harms interpersonal impressions and trust
  10. Book Reviews
  11. Jessica Milner Davis: Humour in Asian Cultures. Tradition and Context
  12. Francisco Yus: Pragmatics of Internet Humor
  13. Chaoqun Xie: The Pragmatics of Internet Memes
  14. Esther Linares Bernabéu: The Pragmatics of Humour in Interactive Contexts
  15. Lena Straßburger: Humor and Horror – Different Emotions, Similar Linguistic Processing Strategies
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