A Genetic Analysis of Humour Preferences

Nias, D.K.B.; Wilson, Glenn D.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-021376-7.50072-3

Cited by 5 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Humor can be defined in terms of an aesthetic response, as measured by funniness ratings of cartoons and jokes. When humor is described in this way, studies have typically found that shared and non-shared environmental factors account for the variance in humor appreciation (Cherkas et al, 2000;Nias & Wilson, 1977;Wilson et al, 1977). In contrast, studies in which self-report measures of humor are administered have yielded results indicating the presence of a genetic contribution to individual differences in humor.…”

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confidence: 99%

A Behavioral Genetic Study of Humor Styles in an Australian Sample

et al. 2012

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The present study investigated the extent to which individual differences in humor styles are attributable to genetic and/or environmental factors in an Australian sample. Participants were 934 same-sex pairs of adult twins from the Australian Twin Registry (546 monozygotic pairs, 388 dizygotic pairs) who completed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ). The HSQ measures four distinct styles of humor -affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating. Results revealed that additive genetic and non-shared environmental factors accounted for the variance in all four humor styles, thus replicating results previously obtained in a sample of twins from the United Kingdom. However, a study conducted with a U.S. sample produced different results and we interpret these findings in terms of cross-cultural differences in humor.

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A Behavioral Genetic Study of Humor Styles in an Australian Sample

et al. 2012

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“…These investigations have produced differing results, depending on the way sense of humor is defined and measured. When humor is defined in terms of humor appreciation and measured by means of funniness ratings of jokes and cartoons, twin studies have generally found evidence of both shared and nonshared environmental contributions, but little evidence of a genetic contribution (Cherkas et al, 2000;Nias & Wilson, 1977;Wilson et al, 1977). Thus, people's tendency to enjoy or to prefer particular types of humorous stimuli seems to develop largely as a consequence of learning experiences both within and outside the family environment, rather than being innate.…”

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Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Humor Styles: A Replication Study

et al. 2008

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One thousand and seventy three pairs of adult monozygotic (MZ) twins and 895 pairs of same sex adult dizygotic (DZ) twins from the United Kingdom (UK) completed the Humor Styles Questionnaire: a 32-item measure which assesses two positive and two negative styles of humor. MZ correlations were approximately twice as large as DZ correlations for all four humor styles, and univariate behavioral genetic model fitting indicated that individual differences in all of them can be accounted for entirely by genetic and nonshared environmental factors, with heritabilities ranging from .34 to .49. These results, while perhaps not surprising, are somewhat at odds with a previous study that we conducted in North America (Vernon et al., in press) in which genetic factors contributed significantly to individual differences in the two positive humor styles, but contributed far less to the two negative styles, variance in which was instead largely due to shared and nonshared environmental factors. We suggest that differences between North American and UK citizens in their appreciation of different kinds of humor may be responsible for the different results obtained in these two studies.

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“…Early research on the behav ioral genetic origins of v ariation in humor focused on humor appreciation, w hich assessed the extent to w hich participants perceiv ed target material as being funny (Vernon, Martin, Schermer, Cherkas, & Spector, 2008a). Results from these studies indicated that indiv idual differences in humor Europe's Journal of Psychology 14 appreciation w ere primarily attributable to shared and non-shared env ironmental factors (e.g., Cherkas, Hochberg, MacGregor, Snieder, & Spector, 2000;Nias & Wilson, 1977;Wilson, Rust, & Kasriel, 1977). Later assessments of humor, how ev er, noted that the construct of humor appreciation, though legitimate, w as not related to one's ability to produce or to engage in humor, and w as therefore not a v alid representation of sense of humor or humor style (Köhler & Ruch, 1996).…”

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confidence: 99%

A Behavioral Genetic Study of Relationships Between Humor Styles And The Six HEXACO Personality Factors

Veselka¹,

Schermer²,

Martin³

et al. 2010

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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In this study, four humor styles (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, self-defeating) were assessed in conjunction with a measure of the HEXACO model of personality, in order to gain greater insight into the etiology of these humor styles, and to situate them better in the framework of human personality. Participants were 664 monozygotic twin pairs and 522 dizygotic twin pairs from the United Kingdom w ho completed the Humor Styles Questionnaire and the HEXACO Personality I nventory. Univariate behavioral genetic analyses of the HEXACO revealed that individual differences in all of its dimensions were entirely attributable to additive genetic and non-shared environmental factors. Significant phenotypic correlations were found between many of the HEXACO factors Europe's Journal of Psychology 10 and the four humor styles, and bivariate behavioral genetic analyses revealed that these correlations were themselves accounted for entirely by correlated genetic and correlated non-shared environmental factors. Our study adds to the literature validating humor as a personality construct and assessing its relations to psychological well-being.

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A Genetic Analysis of Humour Preferences

Cited by 5 publications

References 3 publications

A Behavioral Genetic Study of Humor Styles in an Australian Sample

A Behavioral Genetic Study of Humor Styles in an Australian Sample

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Humor Styles: A Replication Study

A Behavioral Genetic Study of Relationships Between Humor Styles And The Six HEXACO Personality Factors

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