The aim of the present study is to locate eight comic styles in basic and broad concepts of humor, namely the temperamental basis of the sense of humor, humor appreciation, and humor creation. The ...comic styles represent individual differences in how people display humor, differentiating between fun, (benevolent) humor, nonsense, wit, irony, satire, sarcasm, and cynicism. Two samples of 234 and 223 German-speaking adults completed the Comic Style Markers, the standard self-report measure to assess the eight comic styles, as well as self-reports of cheerfulness, seriousness, and bad mood (Sample 1) or behavior tests of humor appreciation (funniness and aversiveness of incongruity-resolution, nonsense, and sexual humor) and humor creation quantity and quality (Sample 2). The results showed that the comic styles could be uniquely and meaningfully located in these basic and broad humor concepts. Specifically, the comic styles spanned the affective component of the temperamental basis of the sense of humor, from cheerfulness to bad mood. Furthermore, the findings supported the convergent validity of the nonsense and wit scales of the Comic Style Markers, as they related to behavior tests of the appreciation of nonsense humor and the quantity and quality of humor creation, respectively. This study thus contributes to the growing field of the psychology of humor by extending the nomological network of the comic styles to the general tendency to enjoy and engage in humor and by providing a behavioral validation of the Comic Style Markers.
The recently-developed Dual Self-Directed Humor Scale (DSDHS) is the first instrument for measuring individual differences between two dimensions of self-directed humor (SDH): negative (deleterious ...SDH) and positive (benign SDH). Thus far, the DSDHS has shown high validity and reliability. However, further validation of the underlying causal relationship between SDH and well-being is required. This study estimated the causal relationship between SDH and several well-being indicators via a two-wave, three-month interval, longitudinal dataset of college students (N = 453). A cross-lagged panel analysis showed that deleterious SDH predicted increased depression over time, while benign SDH predicted decreased depression and anxiety. There was also a two-way causal relationship, with anxiety decreasing benign SDH. These results enhance our understanding of the relationship between SDH and well-being.
•This study collected longitudinal data on self-directed humor (SDH) and well-being.•The analysis was performed via cross-lagged panel model.•Deleterious self-directed humor predicted an increase in depression over time.•Benign self-directed humor led to a decrease in depression and anxiety over time.
•Humor styles are linked with well-being even after controlling for shared variance.•Self-enhancing and affiliative humor are linked with lower distress, health problems.•Self-defeating humor is ...linked with greater health difficulty, distress over time.•Reappraisal and social support are mediators of relations to well-being.•Social competence moderates the relation of aggressive humor with outcomes.
Two studies examined relations of humor styles with well-being, social support, cognitive reappraisal, and social competence. In Study 1 (N = 108), self-enhancing and affiliative humor were associated fewer health difficulties and less psychological distress, mediated by reappraisal and social support, respectively. Self-defeating humor was associated with greater distress, mediated by both reappraisal and social support. Social competence moderated the relation of aggressive humor with social support: Individuals high on both aggressive humor and communication difficulties reported the least support. Study 2 followed undergraduates (N = 193) over ten weeks. T1 results for psychological distress replicated Study 1. Social support and reappraisal mediated relations of humor styles with T1 distress, and social support indirectly mediated the relation of aggressive humor with increased T2 distress. Aggressive humor was associated with T1 health difficulties, and self-defeating humor predicted greater health difficulties over time. Reappraisal and social support indirectly mediated the relation of self-enhancing and affiliative humor with fewer T1 health difficulties, and social support indirectly mediated the relation of aggressive humor with increased health difficulties over time. Communication difficulties moderated the relation of aggressive humor with fewer T1 positive interactions and greater somatic symptoms over time. Relations largely held controlling for shared variance among humor styles.
•The Dual Self-Directed Humor Scale (DSDHS) was developed.•The DSDHS assesses self-directed humor (SDH) on two dimensions.•Deleterious SDH was positively correlated with the psychosocial well-being ...index.•Benign SDH was negatively correlated with the psychosocial well-being index.•Promising evidence on the validity and reliability of the DSDHS is presented.
This article discusses the development and initial validation of the Dual Self-Directed Humor Scale (DSDHS), the first instrument to evaluate individual differences in the two dimensions of self-directed humor (SDH). The DSDHS assumes two distinct dimensions: Deleterious SDH and Benign SDH. While the former is potentially harmful to well-being, the latter is potentially beneficial. By employing 400 participants in Study 1, the validity of the two-factor model of the DSDHS was demonstrated. In Study 2, which included 446 participants, evidence for concurrent validity was shown by correlating the DSDHS with other humor measures. The construct validity was also evaluated by correlating the DSDHS with a broad range of psychosocial well-being indices. While Deleterious SDH was negatively correlated with adaptive indices (self-esteem, happiness, perceived general health, and social support) and positively correlated with maladaptive indices (trait anxiety, depression, aggression, and loneliness), the correlation pattern of Benign SDH was the opposite, thereby providing evidence for construct validity. Study 3 included 136 participants and showed a positive correlation between self- and peer-rated scores for Deleterious SDH and Benign SDH, providing evidence for the DSDHS's convergent validity. In essence, these results provide strong initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the DSDHS.
How many aqueous humor outflow pathways are there? Costagliola, Ciro; dell’Omo, Roberto; Agnifili, Luca ...
Survey of ophthalmology,
March-April 2020, 2020 Mar - Apr, 2020-03-00, 20200301, Volume:
65, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The aqueous humor (AH) outflow pathways definition is still matter of intense debate. To date, the differentiation between conventional (trabecular meshwork) and unconventional (uveoscleral) pathways ...is widely accepted, distinguishing the different impact of the intraocular pressure on the AH outflow rate. Although the conventional route is recognized to host the main sites for intraocular pressure regulation, the unconventional pathway, with its great potential for AH resorption, seems to act as a sort of relief valve, especially when the trabecular resistance rises. Recent evidence demonstrates the presence of lymphatic channels in the eye and proposes that they may participate in the overall AH drainage and intraocular pressure regulation, in a presumably adaptive fashion. For this reason, the uveolymphatic route is increasingly thought to play an important role in the ocular hydrodynamic system physiology. As a result of the unconventional pathway characteristics, hydrodynamic disorders do not develop until the adaptive routes cannot successfully counterbalance the increased AH outflow resistance. When their adaptive mechanisms fail, glaucoma occurs. Our review deals with the standard and newly discovered AH outflow routes, with particular attention to the importance they may have in opening new therapeutic strategies in the treatment of ocular hypertension and glaucoma.
This thesis takes a stylistic approach to joke analysis, in order to answer the question of 'what makes a joke text funny?'. According to Simpson et al (2019), humour research is often neglected in ...stylistics, and research into humour from outside of this discipline lacks a consensus or joined up approach. The three main families of humour research (Attardo, 1994) are introduced, with the suggestion that they can form a unified approach as they are all aspects of foregrounding occurring through deviation from norms at either linguistic, ideational or interpersonal levels of meaning. This leads to the conclusion that foregrounding is a necessary feature of humour, but not sufficient to define a text as humorous. Raskin's (1985) 'Semantic Script Theory of Humour' (SSTH) has become a mainstay of humour research due to the claims that this theory does provide the necessary and sufficient conditions to define a text as joke carrying. The SSTH hypothesis that jokes are constructed using a pair of overlapping and opposing scripts remains unfalsified, though this thesis makes the argument that this is due to an unfalsifiable methodology, and suggests revisions to the SSTH from a stylistic approach. Using Jeffries' (2010b) and Davies' (2012;2013) work on constructed opposition a sample of 80 jokes is analysed, finding that a majority of these joke texts are not based on constructed oppositions which does not offer support to the SSTH approach. The remainder of the thesis then details the text-based discovery process which was taken to develop a new theoretical framework for joke analysis. In a three-stage process, quantitative and qualitative textual analysis is applied to a total of 645 jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to determine what patterns are present in the humorous textual meanings. This leads to the proposal of a new theoretical framework of Textually Constructed Meaning Shifts in Jokes, with a testable hypothesis that joke texts will contain at least one of five foregrounded Textually Constructed Meaning Shifts: bisociation, reinterpretation, asymmetrical comparison, contradiction and performative reinforcement.
Newslore is folklore that comments on and hinges on knowledge of current events. These expressions come in many forms: jokes, urban legends, digitally altered photographs, mock news stories, press ...releases or interoffice memoranda, parodies of songs, poems, political and commercial advertisements, movie previews and posters, still or animated cartoons, and short live-action films.
InNewslore: Folklore on the Internet and in the News, author Russell Frank offers a snapshot of the items of newslore disseminated via the Internet that gained the widest currency around the turn of the millennium. Among the newsmakers lampooned in e-mails and on the Web were Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and such media celebrities as Princess Diana and Michael Jackson. The book also looks at the folk response to the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, as well as the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004.
Frank analyzes this material by tracing each item back to the news story it refers to in search of clues as to what, exactly, the item reveals about the public's response. His argument throughout is that newslore is an extremely useful and revelatory gauge for public reaction to current events and an invaluable screen capture of the latest zeitgeist.
Humour is the predominant element in all the novels of Chetan Bhagat. His novels contain ‘black humour’ which is a form of humour that presents sorrows and sufferings as very mean or that regards ...human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic. ‘Black humour’ is also called ‘Black Comedy’ or ‘Dark Humour’, and the idea that people are powerless victims of fate and character is frequently used to illustrate farce and low humour. The novelist uses humour to reflect the realistic picture of contemporary society. Humour can be more successful in one’s native language. Though the novelist writes in English, he uses very simple language which seems to be one’s own native tongue. The present paper is an attempt to explore humorous elements in Chetan Bhagat's most recent two novels, ‘The Girl in Room 105’ and ‘One Arranged Murder’, with special reference to black humour and satire.
