A Pilot Study: Humor and Creativity

Abstract

Although the literature mentions the indirect relationship between humor and creativity, there is limited evidence that exposure to humorous objects improves directly creative performance. Moreover, the role of humor in the relationship between creativity and various personality traits is also unclear. For addressing this issue, a total of 53 subjects participated in this study. Humorous images (cartoons) were shown to the participants prior to the creativity task. There were no images in the control group. Findings revealed that the participants receiving humorous images were more creative. Furthermore, while the extraversion enhanced creativity in the control group, there was no effect in the humor group. In other words, the humor overshadowed the effect of extraversion. One of the contributions of the current study to the literature is that it is one of few studies that examine the effect of humor on creativity. In addition, the effect of humor on the relationship between extraversion and creativity has become apparent.