Running Head: SELF STANDARDS, HUMOR & WELL-BEING Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 6(3), pp. 1-8 www.ejop.org Introductory Comments: Special Issue of EJOP (August 2010) on Humor Research in Personality and Social Psychology Nicholas A. Kuiper Guest Editor, Special Humor I ssue of EJOP Univ ersity of Western Ontario Welcome to this special humor issue of Europe’s Journal of Psychology. This August 2010 EJOP issue is dev oted to a presentation of contemporary psychological research on humor, w ith a particular emphasis on w ork that targets the personality and social aspects of humor, including stress, coping and w ell-being. This special issue can be placed into a broader context by noting that w e are currently enjoying a psychological renaissance in research on humor. Each year, an increasing number of scientific articles are being published about the psychological aspects of humor. This is clearly seen in Table 1, w hich prov ides one rough index of humor publications in psychology ov er the past thirty years. This w as done by searching in PsychI NFO, using the ter m “humor,” across a sequence of one-year time periods (beginning in 1980), and then adv ancing in fiv e year increments. Thus, Year of Peer-Rev iewed Total Published Publication Journals Works 1980 25 47 1985 58 97 1990 81 140 1995 88 119 2000 136 218 2005 345 461 2009 377 519 Table 1: Number of Humor Publications in Psychology 1980-2009 http://www.ejop.org/ Europe’s Journal of Psychology 2 starting in 1980, there w as a grand total of 47 publications on psychological aspects of humor in all of that year, w ith 25 of these being in peer-rev iew ed journals. Moving forw ard, w e begin to see a slow but steady increase in humor research, reaching an ov erall total of 119 w orks published in 1995, w ith the majority of these now in peer- rev iew ed sources (88). What is truly remarkable is w hat has happened to this field since 1995. As w e enter the new millennium, the total number of published w orks on humor has almost doubled to 218 for the year 2000. This doubling continues unabated in the next time period sampled (2005), w ith a total of 461 publications, of w hich the majority are in peer-rev iew ed journals (345). Finally, ev idence from the most recent one year period av ailable (2009) indicates that this interest in the psychologic al inv estigation of humor still continues at a high rate of enthusiasm, w ith the total number of published w orks now abov e 500, and peer-rev iew ed publications forming almost three-quarters of this total (377). Giv en this recent exponential grow th in psychological research on humor, it seemed both timely and appropriate to put together a special issue that w ould show case some of this w ork. The goal here w as not to offer a comprehensiv e ov erv iew of all of the psychological w ork on humor (for this, see Martin, 2007); but rather, to offer a snapshot of sev eral contemporary personality and social psychology approaches to humor. This w as done by approaching a number of prominent humor inv estigators in sev eral different countries (Canada, United States, Great Britain, Belgium, Norw ay and Lebanon); and then asking them to prov ide a sample of their w ork that w ould be suitable for a special EJOP issue focusing on personality and social psychological approaches to humor. The responses w ere extremely gratifying, and ultimately resulted in the production of this special humor issue. The entire list of contributors to this special issue, and the titles of their articles are show n in Table 2. Europe’s Journal of Psychology (EJOP) - August 2010 Humor Research in Personality and Social Psychology Special Humor Issue Editor: Nicholas A. Kuiper, Ph.D. Kuiper, Nic holas A. Introductor y comments: Special Issue of EJOP on Humor Research in Personality and Social Psychology. Veselka, Liv ia, Scher mer, Julie A., Martin, Rod A., Cherkas, Lynn F., Spector, Tim D. & Vernon, Tony A. A Behavioral Genetic Study of Relationships between Humor Styles and the Six HEXACO Personality Factors. Introductory Comments: Special Humor Issue of EJOP 3 Hampes, William, P. The Relation between Humor and Empathy. Janes, Leslie M. & Olson, James M. Is it You or is it Me? Contrasting Eff ects of Ridicule Targeting Other People Versus the Self . Kazarian, Shahe S., Moghnie, Lamia, & Martin, Rod A. Perceived Parental Warmth and Rejection in Childhood as Predictors of Humor Styles and Subjective Happiness. Saroglou, Vassilis, Lacour, Christelle & Demeure, Marie-Ev e. Bad Humor, Bad Marriage: Humor Styles in Divorced and Married Couples. Freeman, Gillian P. & Ventis, W. Larry. Does Humor Benefit Health in Retirement? Exploring Humor as a Moderator. Kuiper, Nic holas A., Kazarian, Shahe S., Sine, Jessica & Bassil, Margaret. The Impact of Humor in North American versus Middle East Cultures Woodzicka, Julie A. & Ford, Thomas E. A Framework f or Thinking about the (not-so- f unny) Eff ects of Sexist Humor. Edw ards, Kim R. & Martin, Rod A. Humor Creation Ability and Mental Health: Are Funny People more Psyc hologically Healthy? Cann, Arnie, Stilw ell, Kelly & Taku, Kanako. Humor Styles, Positive Personality and Health. Kuiper, Nic holas A., Kirsh, Gillian A., & Leite, Catherine. Reactions to Humorous Comments and Implicit Theories of Humor Styles. Beins, Bernard C. & O’Toole, Shaw n M. Searching f or the Sense of Humor: Stereotypes of Ourselves and Others. Sv ebak, Sv en. The Sense of Humor Questionnaire: Conceptualization and Review of 40 Years of Findings in Empirical Research. Table 2: List of Contributors & Article Titles for Special Humor I ssue of EJOP Europe’s Journal of Psychology 4 Ev en a cursory examination of the titles show n in Table 2 indic ates the w ide range of issues that are currently being inv estigated by this group of humor researchers. As can be seen from this Table, and also as show n separately in Table 3 for each article, these topics and issues range from behav ioral genetic analyses of humor and personality to the negativ e effects of certain types of humor on v arious relationships and societal nor ms. Also of interest are the moderating and mediating effects of humor on stress, coping and health, along w ith the social and interpersonal effects of humor. These inv estigators are also busy mapping out humor stereotypes and implicit theories of humor used for self and others. Further more, the links betw een sense of humor and other positiv e personality factors are also being considered, along w ith w ork focusing on measures of humor creativ ity. Finally, some of the w ork reported in this special EJOP issue addresses dev elopmental f actors that link childhood upbringing w ith certain humor styles; w hereas other research reported here considers the cross-cultural similarities and differences in the effects of humor on social and personal relationships. Ov erall, there certainly is a broad range of topics and issues being examined in this special issue ; and this clearly reinforces the notion that w e are in the midst of a renaissance of humor know ledge and inv estigation. I n addition to presenting an ov erv iew of the main issues examined in eac h of the articles in this special issue, Table 3 also prov ides a brief summary of the type of humor considered in each article, and the samples that w ere employed. As c an be seen in Table 3, the samples in the v arious studies come from a w ide v ariety of different countries, and include not only univ ersity undergraduate students , Invest igat ors Humor Sample Main I ssues Examined Veselka et al. 4 Humor Styles Tw ins (MZ &DZ) Situate Humor Styles in Affiliativ e Great Britain Hexaco Personality Self-enhancing Model (6 factors) Aggressive Self-defeating Behav ioral Genetic Analysis of Humor Styles & Personality Hampes 4 Humor Styles Undergrads Relationships Between United States Humor Style and Various Components of Empathy Introductory Comments: Special Humor Issue of EJOP 5 Janes & Disparagement Undergrads Rev iew Major Theories of Olson Humor (Ridicule Canada Disparagement Humor of Self or Other) Effects of Disparagement Humor on Conformity, Fear of Failure, and Creativ ity Differential Effects for Self Versus Other Ridicule Kazarian et al. 4 Humor Styles Undergrads Relationships of Humor Lebanon Styles w ith Parental Acceptance & Rejection Explore how Humor Styles Mediate Relationships Betw een Parental Warmth or Rejection & Happiness Saroglou et al. 4 Humor Styles Married & I mpact of Humor Styles on (early v ariants) Div orced Relationship Quality in both Earthy Humor Couples Married &Divorced Couples Belgium Humor Styles Predicting Div orce beyond Attachment I ndices Partner Similarity in Humor Styles & I mpact on Marriage Freeman & 4 Humor Styles Retirees over Stress-Moderating Role of Ventis the age of 55 Humor Styles in Retirement United States Specificity of Adaptive versus Maladaptive Nature of each Humor Style Kuiper, Kazarian 4 Humor Styles Undergrads I mpact of Humor Styles on et al. Canada & Others, including Cross- Lebanon Cultural Differences Europe’s Journal of Psychology 6 Woodzicka & Sexist Humor Various Samples Direct &I ndirect Negative Ford (Hostile & in Rev iew Effects of Sexist Humor Benevolent) United States & Elsew here Review Theories of Sexist Humor & Indicate Future Research Directions Edw ards & 4 Humor Styles & Undergrads Relationships between Martin Humor Creation Canada Humor Styles, Humor Ability (2 measures) Creativ ity & Psychological Well-being Cann et al., 4 Humor Styles Undergrads Humor Styles as Mediators United States of Stress-Reduction for Physical & Mental Health Kuiper, Kirsh & 4 Humor Styles Undergrads & I mpact of Humor Styles on Leite High School Others & Social Relations Adolescents Canada I mplicit Theories of Humor Styles for Self & Others Beins & O’Toole Multidimensional Undergrads Match between Self- Sense of Humor United States Reports of Humor & (Humor Production, Other Measures of Attitudes tow ards Sense of Humor Humor Use, Coping Humor, & Humor Humor Level & Appreciation) Personality Attributions for Self &Others Sv ebak Sense of Humor Various Samples Development of SHQ Questionnaire in Rev iew and Subsequent Variants &Variants (SHQ-6) Norw ay & Elsew here Rev iew Major Findings of Wide Variety of Empirical Studies using SHQ Table 3: Ov erview of the Articles in the Special Humor Issue of EJOP Introductory Comments: Special Humor Issue of EJOP 7 but also married and div orced couples, monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) tw ins, retirees, adolescents, and community-based participants. This breadth of participant characteristics is impressiv e, and indicates the extent to w hich the inv estigators in this special issue hav e already begun to consider the applic ation of contemporary humor theory and research to div erse groups and populations. I n terms of defining humor, Table 3 illustrates that a v ariety of different approaches are represented in this special issue, w ith sev eral of the studies examining the four humor styles described by Rod Martin and his colleagues. These styles include tw o adaptiv e forms of humor (self-enhancing and affiliativ e) and tw o maladaptiv e forms (self-defeating and aggressiv e). This multi-faceted approach to considering sense of humor prov ides for a rigorous examination of not only the potential benefits associated w ith humor, but also the detrimental effects w hich may accrue. Of further interest are other approac hes to the construct of humor, as exemplified by the articles focusing on disparagement humor (ridicule), sexist humor, and humor creativ ity. Additional approaches to defining humor are ev ident in the articles examining the Sense of Humor Questionnaire and the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Measure. Both of these measures further illustr ate the complexity of humor, as sev eral different humor f acets are identified, including humor production, attitudes tow ards the use of humor, coping humor, humor appreciation, liking of humorous situations, and meta-message sensitiv ity. When taken together, the v arious approaches to sense of humor represented in this special issue clearly illustrate tw o major points. The first is that sense of humor must be respected as a v ery complex phenomenon that any single humor measure w ill nev er successfully encompass. Secondly, much more research and theorizing is necessary in ter ms of clearly articulating the v arious facets of sense of humor. While measures such as the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ) hav e both prov ided considerable clarification in ter ms of measuring the v arious facets of sense of humor, further w ork is still required. Concluding Comments As you read through the articles presented in this special humor issue of EJOP, I hope you find them to be infor mativ e and enlightening, and perhaps spark an interest in research studies that you may now w ish to conduct in the humor domain. I t is also important to reiterate once more that this special issue prov ides a snapshot of sev eral contemporary approaches to humor research w ith a personality and social psychologic al flav our, and thus should not be taken as an exhaustiv e examination of Europe’s Journal of Psychology 8 all the different approaches to the psychological inv estigation of humor. There are other models and approac hes that hav e not been represented in this special issue, but also w arrant full consideration as the field progresses and mature. Finally, I w ould like to thank all of the contributors to this special issue for their assistance, patience, and co-operation throughout the entire editorial process. The contributors w ere extremely responsiv e to the v arious publication deadlines, and as such, made my job as the editor of this special issue just a little bit easier! Last, but not least, I w ould like to offer considerable thanks to the c hief editor of EJOP, Vlad Glăv eanu, w ho has f ully supported and assisted me w ith this project from the outset. Reference Martin, R. A. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. New York: Academic Press. About the author: Nicholas A. Kuiper has been a professor of psychology for ov er 32 years at the Univ ersity of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. His interest in studying the psychology of humor began in the early 1990’s, w ith a special emphasis on the personality and social psychologic al aspects of humor. Much of his research has focused on indiv idual differences in sense of humor, w ith implications for stress, coping, psychological w ell-being, physical health, and other positiv e and negativ e emotions. Further research has examined humor use in romantic relationships and the potential links betw een humor use and bullying in middle childhood. Address for correspondence: N. Kuiper, Department of Psychology, Westminster Hall, Univ ersity of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 3K7 E-mail: kuiper@uw o.ca mailto:kuiper@uwo.ca