The present paper examines the hypothesis thar trait cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood form the temperamental basis of the sense of humour. American(N = 263)and German (N = 151) adults filled in the state-trait cheerfulness inventory and a sense of humour scale. Correlations between the two inventories showed that trait cheerfulness accounted for most of the variance-in the sense of humour scales with seriousness and bad mood displaying some incremental validity. The sense of humour subscales and the facets of cheerfulness formed a potent first factor in a joint factor analysis of the subscales of the two inventories. While seriousness and playfulness-recently proposed as being the basis of the sense of humour-were indeed related to the sense of humour scales: they contained additional variance and loaded on the subsequent factors of trait seriousness and bad mood. The results are discussed in the context of the necessity of separating affective and mental factors in the sense of humour. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Summary-The present paper examines the hypothesis that trait cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood form the temperamental basis of the sense of humour. American (N = 263) and German (N = 151) adults filled in the state-trait cheerfulness inventory and a sense of humour scale. Correlations between the two inventories showed that trait cheerfulness accounted for most of the variance in the sense of humour scales with seriousness and bad mood displaying some incremental validity. The sense of humour subscales and the facets of cheerfulness formed a potent first factor in a joint factor analysis of the subscales of the two inventories. While seriousness and playfulness--recently proposed as being the basis of the sense of humour--were indeed related to the sense of humour scales, they contained additional variance and loaded on the subsequent factors of trait seriousness and bad mood.The results are discussed in the context of the necessity of separating affective and mental factors in the sense of humour.Trait cheerfulness and sense of humour T R A I T C H E E R F U L N E S S A N D T H E S E N S E O F H U M O U RRecently, a state-trait model of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood was introduced, and an instrument (the State-Trait-Cheerfulness Inventory; STCI) to measure the three concepts both as states and temperamental traits was constructed (Ruch, Köhler & van Thriel, 1996). While the utility of these concepts was not meant to be restricted to the realm of humour, it was postulated that they account for interindividual differences in humour-related behaviour and experience in a variety of ways (Ruch & Köhler, in press a). The prediction of behaviour in experiments as well as the study of the relationship between these traits and the sense of humour may provide support for the postulate that trait cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood form the temperamental basis of humour.The relationship between cheerfulness and sense of humour is controversial, however...

The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in di¤erent countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH 254 R. T. Proyer et al. (Ruch and Titze 1998;Ruch and Proyer 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH3154. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to di¤erences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to di¤erent cultures.

The State-Trait Model of Cheerfulness assesses the temperamental basis of the sense of humor with the traits and respective states of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood. Cheerfulness is a dominant factor in current measures of the sense of humor and explains both, the disposition to engaging in smiling and laughter, as well as humor behaviors, and trait seriousness and bad mood are antagonistic to the elicitation of amusement (albeit for different reasons). Several studies have shown the validity and reliability of the STCI questionnaire in German and other language versions (i.e., Spanish). In this study, the English language version with 106 items (STCI-T <106>) was translated, checked for its item and scale characteristics, and tested with a confirmatory factor analysis approach (N = 1101) to investigate the factorial validity of the STCI-T <106> scale. Results show good psychometric characteristics, good internal consistencies, and a fit to the postulated underlying structure of the STCI-T. Then, the standard form with 60 items (STCI-T <60>) was developed and the psychometric characteristics initially tested. In an independent sample (N = 169), the characteristics of the standard form were compared to the parent form and German equivalent. It showed good psychometric characteristics, internal consistencies, as well as a good self- and peer-report congruence. To conclude, the STCI-T <106> is the measure of choice for the assessment of the temperamental basis of the sense of humor and the separate facets of the traits, while the standard form (60 items) allows of an economic assessment of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood, free of context-saturated items and humor preferences.

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