Humor Styles Questionnaire

Self-enhancing humor

& Relevant Book Recommendations
April 3, 2023
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Self-enhancing humor is one of the four styles of humor presented in psychology and measured by the Humor styles questionnaire (HSQ). The other measured humor styles are Affiliative humor, Aggressive humor and Self-defeating humor. This is being able to laugh at yourself, such as making a joke when something bad has happened to you. Trying to find the humor in everyday situations, and making yourself the target of the humor in a good-natured way. It is related to healthy coping with stress. Jon Stewart from the Daily Show often uses self-enhancing humor by saying things such as, “Maybe I just don’t understand,” or “I’m not the brightest guy.”

What is Self-enhancing humor?

Self-enhancing humor is a style of humor related to having a good-natured attitude toward life, and having the ability to laugh at yourself, your circumstances and the idiosyncrasies of life in a constructive, non-detrimental manner. It is used by individuals to enhance the self in a benevolent, positive manner. This type of humor is best understood as a type of coping or emotion-regulating humor in which individuals use humor to look on the bright side of a bad situation, find the silver lining or maintain a positive attitude even in trying times.

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You may not be able to change a situation, but with humor you may change your attitude towards it.

Allen Klein Tweet

Self-enhancing humor associations

Self-enhancing humor is associated with a number of personality variables as well as psychological, physical and health-related outcomes. Individuals who engage more in the self-enhancing humor style are less likely to exhibit depressive symptoms. In an organizational setting, self-enhancing humor has been shown to promote creativity and reduce stress in the workplace. The self-enhancing style of humor has also been shown to be related to increased levels of self-esteem, optimism, and psychological well-being, as well as decreased levels of depression and anxiety. Individuals who use the self-enhancing humor style are more likely to exhibit extraversion and openness to experience as personality characteristics and less likely to exhibit neuroticism.

Self-enhancing Humor Book Recommendations

To further enhance your understanding of self-enhancing humor, we suggest delving into our handpicked selection of books. Reading these books will enable you to actively engage with the subject matter.
Jerry Seinfeld - Is This Anything?
Gene Perret - Successful Stand-Up Comedy: Advice from a Comedy Writer
Matthew R. Meier - Standing Up, Speaking Out: Stand-Up Comedy and the Rhetoric of Social Change
Dante Alighieri - The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
Sally Holloway - The Serious Guide to Joke Writing: How To Say Something Funny About Anything
R. Scott Murphy - Fun Stories Greatest Hits
Amazon Bookshelf
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Your Thoughts about Self-enhancing humor

It’s highly recommended that you jot down any ideas or reflections that come to mind regarding Self-enhancing humor, including related behaviours, emotions, situations, or other associations you may make. This way, you can refer back to them on your Dashboard or Reflect pop-ups, compare them with your current behaviours, and make any necessary adjustments to keep evolving. Learn more about this feature and how it can benefit you.

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References
  1.  Martin, Rod A.; Lefcourt, Herbert M. (1984).“Situational Humor Response Questionnaire: Quantitative measure of sense of humor”.
  2. Martin, Rod A. (1996). “The Situational Humor Response Questionnaire (SHRQ) and Coping Humor Scale (CHS): A decade of research findings”. Humor – International Journal of Humor Research. 9 (3–4): 251–272.
  3. Ruch, Willibald; Heintz, Sonja (2016-08-19). “The German Version of the Humor Styles Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Overlap With Other Styles of Humor”. Europe’s Journal of Psychology. 12 (3): 434–455. doi:10.5964/ejop.v12i3.1116. ISSN 1841-0413. PMC 4991050. PMID 27547259.
  4. Frewen, Paul; Jaylene Brinker; Rod Martin; David Dozois (2008). “Humor styles and personality-vulnerability to depression”. Humor. 21 (2): 179–195. doi:10.1515/humor.2008.009. S2CID 143436723.
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Fran LebowitzAuthor & Public Speaker
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