Humor: The Psychology of Living BuoyantlyIn his earlier work the author has studied stress and the personality characteristics that protect us from its effects on health and well-being. In this new book he places humor firmly within the literatures of coping processes, the moderation of stressful experiences, and health by showing how humor can help create and encourage feelings of community, closeness, and control. Lefcourt blends empirical research with anecdotal reports in this thoughtful volume. |
Contents
The Changing Concerns of Psychology | 1 |
My Personal Odyssey | 4 |
Turning Psychology to the Study of Positive Assets | 6 |
The Introduction of Humor into Research on Resilience | 11 |
Experiencing Humor in Everyday Life | 15 |
An Intuitive Approach to Understanding Humor | 20 |
Can We Truly Understand the Roots of Humor? | 25 |
Conclusion | 29 |
Is There a Way out of the Vicious Circle of Arousal and Deterioration? | 99 |
Humor as a Moderator of Stress | 101 |
The Results | 103 |
Study 2 | 104 |
The Results | 106 |
The Results | 107 |
Humor as a Coping Strategy | 109 |
An Update | 113 |
Early Conceptions of Humor in Religion Medicine Philosophy and Psychology | 31 |
Conclusion | 39 |
The Pervasiveness of Humor | 41 |
Are Humans Alone in the Use of Humor and joking | 44 |
Are There Universals in the Form and Context of Humor | 48 |
Conclusion | 53 |
The Many Faces of Humor Variations in the Types and Definitions of Humor | 55 |
Freuds Contributions to the Literature on Humor | 56 |
Other Dimensions of Humor | 61 |
Cruel and Hostile Humor | 64 |
Humor | 72 |
The Development of Humor Accounting for Individual Differences | 75 |
Research with Normative Samples | 76 |
Sources of Individual Differences in Humor | 79 |
Humor as a Coping Tool among Professional Comedians | 83 |
The Effects of Stress on Emotion and Health | 89 |
The Physiological Connections | 92 |
Stress Effects on Appetite and Digestion | 95 |
Stress Effects on Sexual Activity | 97 |
The Inhibition of Immune System Activity | 98 |
Humor as a Means of Retaining Social Cohesion and Support | 127 |
Membership in Social Groups | 128 |
Social Support as a Moderator of Stressful Life Experiences | 131 |
Humor as an Enhancer of Social Belonging | 133 |
Sense of Humor and Physiological Stress Responses | 141 |
Humor and Immune System Activity Conclusions | 146 |
Conclusions | 150 |
Sex and Humor Interactive Predictors of Health? | 151 |
Possible Sources of Sex Differences in Humor Usage | 157 |
Conclusion | 160 |
Summing Up | 165 |
The Coping Humor Scale CHS | 173 |
Guide for Scoring of the CHS | 174 |
The Situational Humor Response Questionnaire SHRQ | 175 |
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Common terms and phrases
adrenal adrenal glands amused anger anxiety arousal assessed autonomic nervous system baboons become behavior Bill Cosby bisociation blood pressure chapter characteristics chimpanzees circumstances comedians comic correlated depression described distress effects of humor effects of stress emotional Erik evidence expression feel females film findings form of humor Freud friends funny glucocorticoids hostile humor humans humor and laughter humor measures Humor Research humor scales immune system immune system activity inhibit interactions investigators jokes Journal of Personality Kanzi Lefcourt less literature locus of control males marital Martin McGhee measure of humor mood disturbance Negative Life Events observed occurred physiological play playful prediction responses Robert the Bruce role S-IgA concentrations sample Sapolsky Sarason self-directed humor sense of humor SHRQ situations smiled Social Psychology social support species stories stress moderator stressful events stressful experiences stressful film stressors subjects sympathetic nervous system tion women