“Laughter is the Best Medicine”: The Psychometrics of Humour

The folk saying that “Laughter is the best medicine” is an expression that is not too far from truth. According to psychological research, laughter, or the presence of humor in one’s daily life, has been linked with better immune functioning and a decrease in stress (Lefcourt 627). Many studies confirm this finding, which suggests that humour’s significant role in health psychology should not go unnoticed, as it can potentially inform future therapeutic methods and treatments.

The question of how to measure humour, historically, has been a tricky one. Researchers began by focusing their attention on different types of humour, rather than a single quantitative measure of humour. Dark, satirical, intelligent, or immature “humours” were among the many categories found. These categories, although interesting, were found to bear no correlation with a person’s actual use or appreciation of humor. As Rod A. Martin and Herbert M. Lefcourt, prominent researchers in this field, have remarked, it is of greater pragmatic interest to create measures of the “degree” of humour in one’s daily life. Questionnaires such as the SHRQ (Situational Humour Response Questionnaire), or the CHS (Coping Humor Scale), are examples of tests they have created which focus on situations rather than types of humour. These tests have greater practical implications and can be use in therapeutic settings, for example, by incorporating humor into the lives of people who score low on these measures.

An interesting finding is that humour serves as a defense mechanism. It is a crucial aspect, not only of our intrapersonal wellbeing, but of our interpersonal relationships. It is a behavioral response that allows us to fit in and create bonds with people, whether it be with our boss, coworkers, or friends. Finding ways to measure this trait is useful as it may pave the way for interventions that may improve one’s sense of humour and benefit one’s social life.

Although quantitative, rather than qualitative research on humor has been dominating the field, it may also be interesting to go back to the idea of types in explaining humour as an individualized personality trait. Perhaps the “Big Five Model” and the “Five-Factor Model” for measuring personality and psychological wellbeing can also be translated to account for humor. Someone high on neuroticism for example, may correlate with higher levels of dark or cynical humor. Whereas, someone low on agreeableness may enjoy humor directed towards other people (i.e. laughing at others). I don’t know how this would fit in with extraversion or introversion, but perhaps someone who is more extraverted may be more flexible in one’s appreciation of humour (laughing at everything) vs. someone who is introverted may be more selective (laughing only at what he/she thinks is funny). These ideas, although not fully developed, point towards the fact that humor differs among people. Like intelligence, humor varies in type and in quantity -and I believe that future tests should try, although it may be a daunting task, to incorporate both of these two aspects.

Source:

Lefcourt, Herbert M. “Humor”. Handbook of Positive Psychology. Eds. C.R. Snyder and Shane J. Lopez. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.