Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Contents V
3. List of contributors VII
4. Preface and acknowledgments IX
5. PART I. INTRODUCTION
6. Foreword and overview. Sense of humor: A new look at an old concept 3
7. Approaches to the sense of humor: A historical review 15
8. PART II. CURRENT CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES
9. Humor and personality in everyday life 63
10. The sense of humor and the truth 95
11. A two-mode model of humor appreciation: Its relation to aesthetic appreciation and simplicity-complexity of personality 109
12. “Sense” of humor: Perception, intelligence, or expertise? 143
13. Is sense of humor a positive personality characteristic? 159
14. Humor and stress revisited 179
15. A temperament approach to humor 203
16. PART III. DIFFERENCES AMONG GROUPS
17. Exploring paradigms: The study of gender and sense of humor near the end of the 20th century 231
18. The ill side of humor: Pathological conditions and sense of humor 271
19. The dog that didn't bark in the night: A new sociological approach to the cross-cultural study of humor 293
20. PART IV. INTRAINDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
21. Influence of mood on humor 309
22. Development of the sense of humor 329
23. PART V. CAUSES OF INTER- AND INTRA-INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
24. Genetic and environmental contributions to children's interpersonal humor 361
25. The development and evaluation of a systematic program for improving sense of humor 385
26. Appendix: Humor measurement toots 405
27. Bibliography 413
28. Author index 477
29. Subject index 491