Abstract
Humour has been conceptualized as styles, which vary based on their function (Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, and Weir, 2003). Research examining if and how observers perceive this intent is limited. The current study addresses this research gap by examining the perceptions of Martin et al.’s (2003) four humour styles. Additionally and of particular interest, was whether self-defeating humour and another self-directed humour style, self-deprecating humour, were perceived as two independent humour styles. Despite being similar in content, self-deprecating humour is associated with higher self-esteem and self-defeating humour with lower self-esteem. Two hundred and four students watched comedy clips and completed a survey online. Participants were asked to categorize each video clip by humour style and to rate the self-esteem of the target (i.e. comedian). Results revealed that humour styles are distinguishable by observers with participants predominantly selecting one humour style over the others for each clip. In support of the second hypothesis, targets who were categorised as using self-deprecating humour were perceived as having higher self-esteem than those categorised as using self-defeating humour, illustrating a distinction in the perception of these humour styles at an interpersonal level.
References
Baumeister, R. F., Dale, K., & Sommer, K. L. (1998). ‘Freudian defence mechanisms and empirical findings in modern social psychology: Reaction formation, projection, displacement, undoing, isolation, sublimation, and denial’. Journal of Personality 66, pp. 1081-1124.
Cann, A & Matson, C. (2014). ‘Sense of humour and social desirability: Understanding how humour styles are perceived’. Personality and Individual Differences 66, pp. 176-180. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.03.029
Clarke, P.J., Marshall, V. W., Ryff, C.D., & Wheaton, B. (2001). ‘Measuring psychological wellbeing in the Canadian study of health and aging’. International Psychogeriatrics 13, pp. 79-90.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Dacre Pool, L., & Qualter, P. (2012). ‘The dimensional structure of the Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES)’. Australian Journal of Psychology 64, pp. 147-154. doi:10.1111/j.1742-9536.2011.00039.x
Donnllan, M. B., Oswald, F. L., Baird, B. M., & Lucas, R. E. (2006). ‘The Mini-IPIP scales: Tiny-yet-effective measures of the big five factors of personality’. Psychological Assessment 18 (2), pp. 192-203.
Dozois, D. J. A., Martin, R.A., & Bieling P. J. (2009). ‘Early maladaptive schemas and adaptive/maladaptive styles of humour’. Cognitive Therapy and Research 33, pp. 585-596. doi :10.1007/s10608-008-9223-9
Forgas, J. P., & Bower, G. H. (1987). ‘Mood effects on person-perception judgments’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53, pp. 53-60.
Frewen, P. A., Brinker, J., Martin, R. A. & Dozois, D. J. A. (2008). ‘Humour styles and personality-vulnerability to depression’. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research 21, pp. 179-195. doi :10.1515/HUMOR.2008.009 0933–1719/08/0021–0179
Galloway, G. (2010). ‘Individual differences in personal humour styles: Identification of prominent patterns and their associates’. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, pp. 563-567. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.12.007
Goldberg, L. R. (1992). ‘The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure’. Psychological Assessment 4, pp. 26-42.
Greven, C., Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Arteche, A., & Furnham, A. (2008). ‘A hierarchical integration of dispositional determinants of general health in students: The Big Five, trait emotional intelligence and humour styles’. Personality and Individual Differences 44, pp. 1562-1573. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2008.01.012
Kirk, B. A., Schutte, N. S., & Hine, D. W. (2008). ‘Development and preliminary validation of an emotional self-efficacy scale’. Personality and Individual Differences 45, pp. 432-436.
Kuiper, N.A., Grimshaw, M., Leite, C., & Kirsh, G. (2004). ‘Humour is not always the best medicine: Specific components of sense of humour and psychological well-being’. Humour: International Journal of Humour Research 17, pp. 135-168.
Macgregor, J. C. D., Fitzsimons, G. M., & Holmes, J. G. (2013) ‘Perceiving low self-esteem in close others impedes capitalisation and undermines the relationship’. Personal Relationships 20, pp. 690-705.
Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J., & Weir, K. (2003). ‘Individual differences in uses of humour and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humour Styles Questionnaire’. Journal of Research in Personality 37, pp. 48-75.
Martin, R.A. (2007). The Psychology of Humour: An Integrative Approach. Burlington. MA: Elsevier Academic Press.
McCosker, B., & Moran, C.C. (2012). ‘Differential effects of self-esteem and interpersonal competence on humour styles’. Psychology Research and Behaviour Management 5, pp. 143-150.
Mendiburo-Seguel, A., Paez, D., & Martinez-Sanchez, F. (2015) ‘Humour styles and personality: A meta-analysis and the Big Five personality traits’. Personality and Social Psychology 56, pp. 335-340. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12209
Moran, J. M., Rain, M., Page-Gould, Mar, R.A. (2014) ‘Do I amuse you? Asymmetric predictors for humour appreciation and humour production’. Journal of Research in Personality 49, pp. 8-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.12.002
Rawlings, M. R & Findlay, B. M. (2013). ‘A scale for self-deprecating humour.’ Paper presented at the 10th Colloquium of the Australian Humour Studies Network, Newcastle, Australia.
Ready, R. E., Clark, L. A., Watson, D., & Westerhouse, K. (2000). ‘Self-and peer-reported personality: Agreement, trait rateability, and the “self-based heuristic”.’ Journal of Research in Personality 34, pp. 208-224.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ruch, W. (1998). The Sense of Humour: Explorations of a Personality Characteristic. New York: Mouton De Gruyter.
Ryff, C., & Keyes, C. (1995). ‘The structure of psychological well-being revisited’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69, pp. 719-727.
Saroglou, V., & Scariot, C. (2002). ‘Humour styles questionnaire: Personality and educational correlates in Belgian high school and college students’. European Journal of Personality 16, pp. 43-54.
Schermer, J. A., Martin, R. A., Martin, N. G., Lynskey, M. & Vern, P. A. (2013). ‘The general factor of personality and humour styles’. Personality and Individual Differences 5, pp. 890-893.
Tabachnick, B. G. & Fidell, L. S. (2012). Using Multivariate Statistics (6th edition). New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon.
Vernon, P. A., Martin, R. A., Schermer, J. A., & Mackie, A. (2008). ‘A behavioural genetic investigation of humour styles and their correlations with the Big-5 personality dimensions’. Personality and Individual Differences 44, pp. 1116-1125.
Veselka, L., Schermer, J. A., Martin, R. A., Cherkas, L. F., Spector, T., & Vernon, P. A. (2010). ‘A behavioural genetic study of relationships between humour styles and the six HEXACO personality factors’. Europe’s Journal of Psychology 6, pp. 9-33.
Watson, D., Clark. L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). ‘Brief measures of Positive and Negative Affect: The PANAS Scale’. Social Psychology 54, pp. 1063-1070.
Watson, D., Hubbard, B., & Wiese, D. (2000). ‘Self–other agreement in personality and affectivity: The role of acquaintanceship, trait visibility, and assumed similarity’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78, pp. 1063-1070.
Zeigler-Hill, V., Besser, A., & Jett, S. E. (2013). ‘Laughing at the looking glass: Does humour style serve as an interpersonal signal?’ Evolutionary Psychology 11, pp. 201-226.