Relationships between everyday use of humor and daily experience
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John B. Nezlek
John B. Nezlek is a professor of psychology at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poznań, and he is a professor emeritus of psychology at the College of William & Mary. His primary research interest is individual differences in everyday experience.
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Peter L. Derks
Peter L. Derks is a professor emeritus of psychology at the College of William & Mary. His primary research interests are cognition and creativity. He has been conducting research on humor for more than 50 years.
John Simanski received his MA from the College of William & Mary, and he is presently a data analyst for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Abstract
Each day for two weeks participants described how often they had used four types of humor that day: affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating humor. Each day, participants also described the events that occurred in their lives (positive and negative crossed with social and achievement), and they provided measures of their well-being. Multilevel analyses (days nested within persons) found that the daily use of affiliative and self-enhancing humor was positively related to daily positive events (social and achievement) and was negatively related to daily negative events (social and achievement). In contrast, the use of self-defeating humor was positively related to the occurrence of all types of events. Affiliative and self-enhancing humor was positively related to positively valent measures of well-being (e.g., self-esteem), and were negatively related to negatively valent measures of well-being (e.g., rumination). In contrast, relationships between well-being and the use of self-defeating humor were the mirror image of these relationships. The use of aggressive humor was unrelated to well-being. These results suggest that the use of humor is cued by the events that occur in people’s daily lives, social and achievement and good and bad, and that the use of humor is related to well-being, both positively and negatively.
Dedication: We dedicate this article to the memory of W. Larry Ventis, a lifelong friend and colleague, whose easy and affable demeanor was always able to lift our spirits.
About the authors
John B. Nezlek is a professor of psychology at SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poznań, and he is a professor emeritus of psychology at the College of William & Mary. His primary research interest is individual differences in everyday experience.
Peter L. Derks is a professor emeritus of psychology at the College of William & Mary. His primary research interests are cognition and creativity. He has been conducting research on humor for more than 50 years.
John Simanski received his MA from the College of William & Mary, and he is presently a data analyst for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- “If we don’t quarrel, we joke”: Emic perspectives on Belarusian families’ humorous folklore
- Relationships between everyday use of humor and daily experience
- Adolescents creating cartoons: A developmental study of humor
- Development and validation of the child humor orientation scale short-form
- What’s so funny? Adaptive versus maladaptive humor styles as mediators between early maladaptive schemas and resilience
- Depressogenic traits and depression: Are humor styles mediators?
- Reply to Holger Kersten: “Second Thoughts on Hyperbole about Satire’s Efficacy”
- Response to James Caron’s remarks
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- “If we don’t quarrel, we joke”: Emic perspectives on Belarusian families’ humorous folklore
- Relationships between everyday use of humor and daily experience
- Adolescents creating cartoons: A developmental study of humor
- Development and validation of the child humor orientation scale short-form
- What’s so funny? Adaptive versus maladaptive humor styles as mediators between early maladaptive schemas and resilience
- Depressogenic traits and depression: Are humor styles mediators?
- Reply to Holger Kersten: “Second Thoughts on Hyperbole about Satire’s Efficacy”
- Response to James Caron’s remarks
