TITLE: CORRELATION OF HUMOUR AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING

AUTHOR: DE GUZMAN, DARYL JAKE N.

PROGRAM: Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of experiences to provoke
laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral
medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of
fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: humor, "body
fluid"), controlled human health and emotion.
Many theories exist about what humour is and what social
function it serves. The prevailing types of theories attempting
to account for the existence of humour include psychological
theories, the vast majority of which consider humour-induced
behaviour to be very healthy; spiritual theories, which may, for
instance, consider humour to be a "gift from God"; and theories
which consider humour to be an unexplainable mystery, very much
like a mystical experience.[1]
The benign-violation theory, endorsed by Peter McGraw,
attempts to explain humour's existence. The theory says 'humour
only occurs when something seems wrong, unsettling, or
threatening, but simultaneously seems okay, acceptable or safe'.
[2]
Humour can be used as a method to easily engage in social
interaction by taking away that awkward, uncomfortable, or uneasy
feeling of social interactions.
Others believe that 'the appropriate use of humour can
facilitate social interactions'.[3]
As an individual difference variable, with potential for
development (Lefcourt, 2002), sense of humor is associated
with a variety of positive outcomes not limited to coping
(Masten, 1982), social attractiveness and a positive self-
concept (cf. Roeckelein, 2002).

Psychological Well-Being

Psychological well-being refers to inter- and

intraindividual levels of positive functioning that can include
one’s relatedness with others and selfreferent attitudes that
include one’s sense of mastery and personal growth. Subjective
well-being reflects dimensions of affect judgments of life
satisfaction.

Psychological well-being has two important facets. The first

of these refers to the extent to which people experience positive
emotions and feelings of happiness. Sometimes this aspect of
psychological wellbeing is referred to as subjective wellbeing
(Diener, 2000).
The two important ingredients in PWB are the subjective happy
feelings brought on by something we enjoy and the feeling that
what we are doing with our lives has some meaning and purpose.

STATEMENT OF THE POBLEM AND HYPOTHESIS:

The aim of the study is to mark a first step in the linkages
between humour and psychological well-being
The following research questions will be explored:
1. What are the positive psychological effects of humour?
2. What are the types of humour that have an impact on
psychological and individuals’ overall subjective well-
being?
3. What is the conclusion between the relationship of humour
and psychological well-being?
It is generally known that humour contributes to higher
subjective wellbeing (both physical and psychological. [4] Previous
research on humour and psychological well-being show that humour
is in fact a major factor in achieving, and sustaining, higher
psychological wellbeing.[4][5] This hypothesis is known as general
facilitative hypothesis for humour.[4] That is, positive humour
leads to positive health. Not all contemporary research, however,
supports the previous assertion that humour is in fact a cause
for healthier psychological wellbeing.[6] Some of the previous
researches’ limitations is that they tend to use a one-
dimensional approach to humour because it was always inferred
that humour was deemed positive. They did not consider other
types of humour, or humour styles. For example, self-defeating or
aggressive humour.[7] Research has proposed 2 types of humour that
each consist of 2 styles, making 4 styles in total. The two types
are adaptive versus maladaptive humour.[7] Adaptive humour consist
of facilitative and self-enhancing humour, and maladaptive is
self-defeating and aggressive humour. Each of these styles can
have a different impact on psychological and individuals’ overall
subjective wellbeing.[7]
 1.Affiliative style humour. Individuals with this dimension of
humour tend to use jokes as a means of affiliating
relationships, amusing others, and reducing tensions.[7]
2.Self-enhancing style humour. People that fall under this
dimension of humour tend to take a humorous perspective of
life. Individuals with self-enhancing humour tend to use it
as a mechanism to cope with stress.[7]
3.Aggressive humour. Racist jokes, sarcasm and disparagement
of individuals for the purpose of amusement. This type of
humour is used by people who do not consider the
consequences of their jokes, and mainly focus on the
entertainment of the listeners.[7]
4.Self-defeating humour. People with this style of humour tend
to amuse others by using self-disparaging jokes, and also
tend to laugh along with others when being taunted. It is
hypothesized that people use this style of humour as a mean
of social acceptance. It is also mentioned that these
people may have an implicit feeling of negativity. So they
use this humour as a means of hiding that inner negative
feeling.[7]
In the study on humour and psychological well-being, research
has concluded that high levels of adaptive type humour
(affiliative and self-enhancing) is associated with better self-
esteem, positive affect, greater self-competency, as well as
anxiety control and social interactions.[8] All of which are
constituents of psychological wellbeing. Additionally, adaptive
humour styles may enable people to preserve their sense of
wellbeing despite psychological problems.[5] In contrast,
maladaptive humour types (aggressive and self-defeating) are
associated with poorer overall psychological wellbeing,
[8]
 emphasis on higher levels of anxiety and depression.
Therefore, humour may have detrimental effects on psychological
wellbeing, only if that humour is of negative characteristics.[8]

REFERENCES:
1. Raymond Smullyan, "The Planet Without Laughter", This Book
Needs No Title

2.Peter McGraw, "Too close for Comfort, or Too Far to care?

Finding Humor in Distant Tragedies and Close Mishaps"

3. Nicholas Kuiper, "Prudence and Racial Humor: Troubling

Epithets"

4. Kuiper & Martin (1993). "Humor and self-concept". Humor:

International Journal of Humor
Research. 6 (3).doi:10.1515/humr.1993.6.3.251.

5.Jump up to:a b Bos, E.H.; Snippe, E.; de Jonge, P.;

Jeronimus, B.F. (2016). "Preserving Subjective Wellbeing in
the Face of Psychopathology: Buffering Effects of Personal
Strengths and Resources". PLOS ONE. 11 (3):
e0150867. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1150867B. doi:10.1371/journal.
pone.0150867. PMC 4786317. PMID 26963923.

6. Kuiper & Martin (1998). "Laughter and stress in daily

life: Relation to positive and negative affect". Motivation
and Emotion.

7. Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray., & Weir (2003).

"Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation
to psychological well-being: Development of the humor
styles questionnaire". Journal of Research in
Personality. 37: 48–75. doi: 10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00534-2.

8. Jump up to:a b c Kuiper, Grimshaw, Leite., & Kirsh (2004).

"Humor is not always the best medicine: Specific components
of sense of humor and psychological well-being". Humor:
International Journal of Humor Research. 17 (1–
2). doi:10.1515/humr.2004.002.