It has been proposed that four main styles of humor exist, two which are thought to be adaptive (affiliative, self-enhancing) and two which are thought to be maladaptive (aggressive, self-defeating). Whilst the existence of these four humor styles has been supported in older children, it is suggested that for younger children, self-enhancing and self-defeating humor may develop at a later point...

This paper investigates the role of humor in non-task oriented (topic restriction free) human-computer dialogue, as well as the correlation between humor and emotions elicited by it in users. A joke-telling conversational system, constructed for the needs of this research, was evaluated by the users as better and more human-like than a baseline system without humor. Automatic emotive evaluation...

The authors examined whether different levels of sense of humor would influence respondents’ ratings about a potentially desirable partner. The authors used vignettes to predict that the targets who possessed a good sense of humor would receive significantly higher ratings in measures of attractiveness and suitability as a long-term partner than would those who possessed an average or no sense ...

Both laypersons and scholars assign the sense of humor a prominent role in our lives. In everyday life individuals use expressions like having or lacking a sense of humor to explain why people behave the way they do. This need to distinguish among facets of humorous and humorless personalities can be deduced from the fact that cultures typically have developed a rich vocabulary of humor-related...

Humor and laughter can be effective self-care tools to cope with stress. An ability to find humor gives us a sense of perspective on our problems. Laughter provides a physical release for accumulated tension. The article reviews research on the effect of humor and laughter on our immune function and resilience to stress. Resources for finding humor are included.

Are people who are funny more attractive? Or does being attractive lead people to be seen as funnier? The answer may depend on the underlying evolutionary function of humor. While humor has been proposed to signal "good genes," the authors propose that humor also functions to indicate interest in social relationships-in initiating new relationships and in monitoring existing ones. Consistent wi...

This study examined women’s and men’s preferences for humor production and humor receptivity in long-term and short-term relationships, and how these factors interact with physical attractiveness to influence desirability. Undergraduates viewed photographs of the opposite sex individuals who were high or low in physical attractiveness, along with vignettes varying in humor production and recept...

PURPOSE Ocular immune privilege is mediated in part by the activity of constitutively produced immunosuppressive cytokines and neuropeptides. Aqueous humor was examined for content of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and the potential of CGRP to mediate immunosuppressive activity within aqueous humor was determined. METHODS The concentration of CGRP in fresh, normal rabbit aqueous humo...

The present paper tries to discover the position of sense of humor in personality space. Several definitions of humor are discussed and a review of studies relating personality and humor is given. The authors’ conceptualization of humor is introduced and two studies are presented that tried to locate these humor dimensions within personality space. Our humor tests were given to two samples: the...

Multiple aspects of humor were evaluated in children between the ages of 10 and 14 and related to several areas of competence manifested at school. Humor measures assessed appreciation (including mirth, subjective ratings, and response sets), comprehension, and production, while competence measures included teacher ratings of classroom behavior, peer reputation, and achievement. Humor was relat...