Trait cheerfulness and the sense of humour

Abstract

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...

Humor-based online positive psychology interventions: A randomized placebo-controlled long-term trial

“…While McGhee (2010b) proposed six humor skills (i.e., enjoyment of humor, laughter, verbal humor, humor in everyday life, laughing at yourself, humor under stress), psychometric studies (Köhler & Ruch, 1996;Müller & Ruch, 2011;Ruch & Carrell, 1998) show that these components mostly mark a strong factor of humor that typically unites "[…] enjoying humorous stimuli, finding humour in everyday life and even in one's own mishaps, enjoying cheerful interactions and telling jokes" (Ruch & Carrell, 1998;p. 555).…”

How does psychopathy relate to humor and laughter? Dispositions toward ridicule and being laughed at, the sense of humor, and psychopathic personality traits

“…The scale consists of a score for sense of humor (a total score of the humor skills) and, additionally, scales for playful vs. serious attitude and positive vs. negative mood (cf. Ruch & Carrell, 1998). It was expected that specific facets of the psychopathic personality traits such as superficial charm are positively related with playfulness, while others such as the unempathic or callous component Humor,laughter,should oppose playful behavior .…”

Extending the study of gelotophobia: On gelotophiles and katagelasticists

“…McGhee considers the subscales laughing at oneself and humor under stress as different from the other scales of his measure because he assumes that skills related to these concepts are more di‰cult to develop. As Ruch and Carrell (1998) point out the expression of laughing at oneself could be interpreted metaphorically and it should be best understood as seeing and accepting the own shortcomings and mishaps. This does not necessarily lead to laughter in the person.…”